Midwinter's Eve
by Aileen Autarkeia
Summary: They thought they would never return. They thought they had left for good, and more than one tear was shed upon these hopeless thoughts. But they were wrong- and come home to a changed universe. Two years of failing faith can change a person- and they are no longer who they once were. Sequel to All Hallow's Eve.
1. Chapter 1

Hello my friends! I have decided that you have waited more than long enough for All Hallow's Eve's sequel. The sequel to Alternate is in the works- I promise.

I want to give you fair warning. I'm going to have some tough issues that the characters face in this story. I'm going to try and keep it down to 'T' rating, but if I feel that something needs to be rated 'M' I will warn you.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned the Avengers, PHIL COULSON WOULD LIVE. Not to say that he isn't still alive. Joss Whedon, I'm looking at you...

(0)^_^(0)

Stephanie Rogers sprinted into her room and slammed the door behind her, ignoring her mother's shout of "Don't you dare-" It was cut off as Stephanie sagged against the door and began crying.

Two years.

Two long, hard years had passed since those few glorious weeks with the Avengers had ended. They had tried to stay together- tried to stay intact, but it wasn't easy.

Nathan and Claire had a falling out and were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend. They couldn't stand in the same room without attacking each other, sometimes physically, mostly verbally.

Lena had moved away and Lori had gone with her. Stephanie had taken that hard, as Brenda and Lori were her true friends. The rest were comrades- nothing more.

Tasha had completely lost contact with them. She had moved to God-knows-where in Asia with her missionary parents. She hadn't contacted them at all in the past year.

Stephanie herself had parent issues. Her father was often away on business trips and her mother was constantly trying to get Stephanie to lose weight, follow directions, and settle down with a nice man who had a good job and raise 2.5 kids in a house with a white picket fence. Stephanie wanted freedom, college, and to go back.

She wiped her tears and stood up, silently kicking her dirty clothes into the sideways laundry bin. She sniffled and sat down silently on her bed, picking up her family portrait and opening the back.

She drew out another photo. This one was the last one she had taken before the Young Avengers returned to their own time. Everyone was there, both old and young sets. She smiled sadly and touched her own older original's face- Steve Rogers, Captain America.

She had kept her looks when she returned- long blonde curly hair and snapping blue eyes. She didn't look like her parents at all anymore, which was why she was involved in a silent legal struggle to change her name legally to Rogers.

She close her eyes and put the picture away. Her eyes fell on her duffle bag, packed and hidden in a corner.

"If it ever gets too much, come visit," she remembered Lori saying as they hugged before she left. "Come visit for a week or something. Get away. You have my address."

That option was looking more and more appealing by the minute.

Suddenly Stephanie made up her mind. She grabbed the family photo out of the frame and tucked the rightful one in it's place, unzipped her bag and put it on top. She shouldered the bag and walked out the door swiftly.

The house was quiet, with a note on the table. "Gone to the store, be back soon. ~Mom" was written in clear lettering. Stephanie added a note of her own underneath.

"Off to visit Lori and Lena. Don't know when I'll be back. Don't care. ~Steph"

She walked outside and hit the button to unlock her car doors. Her credit card was safely in her wallet, along with ID and cash. She had several changes of clothes to use and a few other essentials- like her fighting uniform.

She plugged the address into the GPS and readied herself for the five hour drive.

(0)^_^(0)

She was approaching the halfway mark and getting tired. Her eyes fluttered halfway shut and she jerked upright.

Her car shuddered. Stephanie frowned and checked the gas- she had filled up a half hour ago...

She looked up again and gasped. There was a pair of bright headlights heading directly at her, at high speeds.

Stephanie couldn't breath. She told her arms to turn the wheel over to the side, but she was frozen in fear.

She managed to whisper, "I'm sorry, Dad," before her head slammed into the steering wheel.

Her vision went black, and she knew no more.

(0)^_^(0)

Tasha carefully looked out the window of her parents' apartment, making sure to make as few sudden movements as possible.

"What is happening?" a soft, scared voice whispered from behind her.

"Nothing," Tasha said hastily. "Nothing wrong, Leah."

Leah, a Chinese Christian, didn't seem convinced. "I hear shouting. Something is bad wrong."

"Badly," Tasha corrected absentmindedly. "It's badly instead of bad."

Leah huffed angrily. "Sorry for my English," she snapped.

"Shhhh!" Tasha hissed. "Keep it down. No one knows we're up here and we want to keep it that way."

"Ah ha! So something is wrong!" Leah whispered triumphantly.

Tasha hesitantly nodded. "Yes. There's a mob outside."

She turned around to see a fearful expression on her friend's face. "Are they hunting for us? Will we go to prison?" she whispered.

"As long as no one finds us, we'll be ok," Tasha whispered reassuringly. She kept close to the ground and snuck over to the couch silently.

"What are you doing?" Leah asked as Tasha laid flat on her back and started to wriggle her way under the couch.

"Shhh! I'm trying to-" she grunted- "make sure the Bibles are hidden!"

"I hope so," Leah murmured worriedly. "It will be bad if someone finds them."

Tasha shoved herself out from underneath the couch and wiped her hand across her forehead. "Yeah," she muttered. "I'd like to keep my head on my shoulders where it belongs, thank you very much."

"As would I," Leah said.

Tasha put her back to the wall and sighed heavily. "This is not good," she muttered. "Very, very not good."

Leah looked very scared. "My brothers- will they be alright?" she asked anxiously.

"They'll be fine," Tasha said wearily. "They'll be smart and take the long way home."

She closed her eyes for a brief moment- or what she thought was a brief moment. When she woke up, the room was empty and the sounds of rage and violence were louder.

Tasha swore and looked around wildly for Leah. "Leah!" she called softly. "Now's not the time for Hide 'n' Seek!"

No answer.

"Lin?" She resorted to calling Leah by her given name, instead of her Christian one.

Still nothing.

She muttered a few words and crawled over to the kitchen table, hesitantly rising onto her knees to see what was on it. There was a note, written on lined paper. Tasha grabbed it and hastily unfolded it.

"Tasha-

I have gone to find my brothers. I will be back shortly.

~Leah"

Tasha stared at it, then cursed angrily and tore the note into tiny pieces. She dumped it into the trash can and grabbed her housekey off the counter.

She needed to go and find Leah.

She carefully opened the door and slid into the stairwell. After a few hours of sitting on the floor, it was nice to stand up. Tasha stretched quickly and tiptoed down the stairs.

She slid out the back entrance to her apartment building and ran to the entrance to the alleyway. There was a mob, alright- she bit her lip. How would she find a group of people, let alone a single person, in this mess?

Tasha tentatively took a step out of the alleyway and found herself being carried along with the current. There were hundreds of angry people, screaming in Chinese at their Communist government. This was not good, not good at all...

She kept her mouth determinedly closed, and prayed she wouldn't be singled out because she was different.

There was a brief moment where Tasha found her feet on the ground. She sighed heavily and bent over to breathe...

Only for the crowd to surge, and her to topple.

Her eyes widened for only a split second, and then the crowd was trampling her.

Feet pounded over her, and she curled into a ball, trying to protect herself from the angry mob. She would've screamed, but it would simply have been another voice adding to the din.

Then suddenly, it was all gone.

"Miss?"

Tasha hesitantly opened one eye.

It was a man, wearing an orange plastic suit. He looked slightly concerned for her, as she uncurled herself and slowly sat up.

"What just happened?" she asked warily.

The man shrugged. "I dunno. But you might wanna figure it out soon. The boss'll be mad as a hornet if he finds you here."

"Uh... where is 'here'?" Tasha asked warily as she sat up.

The man pulled her to her feet and dropped her hand quickly. "SHIELD's Helicarrier, miss."

Tasha's eyes widened, and her stomach dropped.

"Oh, my..."

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda slowly opened her eyes and groaned.

The world was a spinning mass of colors, and she immediately threw one hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright lights.

She laid in bed for a good 20 minutes before her head quit spinning enough to actually look around. There was still a throbbing pain in her temple, but she knew there would be aspirin, a glass of water, and her phone on her bedside table, and groped for them.

She found the two tiny pills and the glass cylinder and wasted no time in downing them. After 10 minutes or so, her headache subsided enough for her to sit up and check her phone.

One text. From... Tasha?

She stared at the phone in consternation for a few moments. Tasha was her Science Sis, sure, but they hadn't maintained a close relationship. She would've expected a text from-

Brenda cut herself off right there and started to cry silently. The pain in her heart was still raw, and she just couldn't force herself to move on...

She gathered herself together and typed in the password, written on a sticky note attached to the back of her phone. It clicked open and she pulled up the 'Messages' app.

Almost immediately she had to stifle a shriek.

"In the hospital, almost got trampled. Doing ok, broke my wrist."

Brenda hastily texted back, "OMG! HOW?!"

She had to wait for a little while before getting a disgruntled text. "Trying to sleep here. Political climate here is tense. Angry mob almost trampled me. I'm ok. How r u?"

She took a deep breath. Tasha was alive. That was what mattered.

"Fine," she texted. "Just sad."

"Why?" came back a few minutes later.

"U haven't heard?" she typed quickly.

"No. Enlighten me."

She went to type in the words, but something was wrong. Her phone was slightly transparent. That was... not a good sign...

She tried to type in her message, but failed. Her phone fell straight through her hands, and she was wrenched angrily from her world into another.

It was only a second before she felt her feet hit the ground with a very heavy *thud*. She wobbled on her feet and was about to fall when two hands reached out and caught her shoulders quickly.

She looked up in a flash and gasped.

"Brenda Banner," Agent Maria Hill greeted her with a cool smile as she released her grip on the young woman's shoulders.

"Hello, Agent Hill," Brenda said warily. She had never really conversed with the woman on her last... visit to the Avenger's universe.

"Nice of you to join us. We're just waiting for..." Agent Hill paused and put a hand to her comm. "Yessir. I understand. Miss Banner has just arrived."

She paused briefly and then said, "Understood. I'll send her up right away."

Brenda tilted her head slightly.

"There'll be a meeting in a few minutes. I need you to go to the gym on the 3rd floor and collect the Young Avengers there," Agent Hill instructed. "We'll talk more once all of you are gathered."

Brenda nodded and split off, moving towards the stairs.

"Miss Banner!"

She paused and turned around.

"The stairs are the other way."

She blushed and did as told.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow! I got a great reaction for my first chapter! I'm really pleased that you're enjoying this story and all will be explained- or most- shortly.

OH! Jazzy Pseudonym writes most of Lori's scenes. She wrote the entire Lori scene below, and I'll do my best to remember to tell you when she writes bits!

Not much else to say besides ENJOY! (and review please! 3)

(0)^_^(0)

Nathan flopped on his bed, staring at the clock on his bedside table with a listless stare.

10:48... 10:49...

He groaned and rolled onto his back, pulling his phone out and staring at the screen.

10:50... 10:51...

Nathan sighed and dropped his phone on the bed next to him. He might as well try to sleep, he guessed. It was late, after all...

He closed his eyes and yawned wearily. He left his eyes closed for a few moments, before something seemed to... shift...

Nathan opened his eyes and frowned. The ceiling was gray. It had been dark blue only seconds before-

Nathan bolted upright.

He wasn't in his room anymore- that was for darned sure...

The walls were a dark gray, and the bed he was sitting on was much harder than his own at home. The sheets were soft and silky, and he ran his hand over the sheets gently.

Then Nathan stood up and moved to the closet. He flung the door open and was confronted with several fancy dresses, a few SHIELD catsuits, and a few nice shirts and jeans.

"Ok, that answers most of the questions," he muttered, and slammed the door.

He turned around and walked over to the door, flinging it open. There was no one in the hallway, and Nathan took that as a good thing.

He slid the door closed and walked down the hallway, heading towards the glowing red "Exit" sign. He swung the door open and was confronted with a familiar face.

"Brenda!"

"Nathan!"

Brenda smiled warmly at him. "Glad to know you made it," she said. "We're having a meeting up in the main area. You should probably head up there."

Nathan nodded. "Where are you off to?" he asked curiously.

"The gym. Apparently there's a person or two down there." Brenda shrugged. "Anyway, I should probably go."

Nathan nodded and took the stairs up two at a time.

(0)^_^(0)

Claire slammed her book closed with a heavy sigh and opened her cell phone.

No texts. Of course.

She sighed and buried her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes. The funeral was tomorrow, and she'd have to face the other Young Avengers for the first time in a very long while.

Her phone buzzed, and she snatched it up.

"Hey gorgeous 3" was typed into the bar from a familiar number.

Claire hid a smile and texted back, "Hello handsome. What r u doing?"

She only had to wait for a moment before her phone buzzed again.

"Finding clothes for 2mrw. u?"

Her happy smile slid off her face, and she hastily checked under her eyes to make sure there were no tears.

She finally gathered herself together and typed, "Studying. Bout to go to sleep."

"Sleep well."

Claire smiled once again. "Will do- u 2."

She flipped off her light and carefully made her way to her bed, flopping down on top of it with a heavy sigh.

Her phone went off again and she groaned loudly. She leaned over and checked it quickly.

"Wait, u hvnt gone?"

"gone where?"

"u know!"

She sighed in exasperation and typed in angrily, "No, I don't know!"

There was a brief bit of silence, before he texted back. "u'll c."

With that cryptic message, Claire put her phone on the charging station and rolled onto her back, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Her eyes were slipping closed slowly... more and more...

And then they were snapping open.

Claire sat up suddenly, staring around herself. Something had shifted. She could feel it in her bones...

She stood up and started making her way to the light switch next to the door. Far to early, her outstretched hands hit the wall, and she slid her fingers along the wall before hitting a metal doorframe.

Claire paused.

"Oh no..."

She found the light switch and turned the light on. Slowly, half nervously, she turned around.

She wasn't in her bedroom anymore, that was for sure.

The walls were slate grey, for one thing, instead of the dark purple that Claire favored. The ceiling was exceptionally low, and instead of her twin bed with the silver coverlet, there was a bunk bed pressed up against the back wall. It was a miracle she hadn't hit her head when she stood up.

She took note of a few other small details. There was a desk against the right wall, and Claire wandered over to see what was there. She pulled out a sheaf of paper and flipped through it carefully.

A few things jumped out at her. "Codename: UNKNOWN". "Original: HAWKEYE, A.K.A. Agent Barton". "Name: CLAIRE BARTON".

It was her file.

She flipped through it, noting the relative lack of information on herself, and slid it back onto the desk. She was about to walk away and go look in the closet when she noticed a corner that looked extremely out of place.

Claire looked at it and carefully pushed the button.

Immediately a hair-thin crack on the top of the desk opened, revealing a bow and a quiver, completely stocked with arrows and tips. She looked at it, and realized that it wasn't her bow.

She spun around once again, now seeing the few pictures on the ceiling over the top bunk and a nice shirt thrown haphazardly over the chair.

Claire took a sharp breath.

It was Clint's room.

Dad's.

She was back in the Avenger's universe.

(0)^_^(0)

Lori snuck out of the house, late at night, a small backpack filled with clothes and money saved from her brief stint at Barnes and Noble. Her cheap flip phone was charged and sticking out of her purse. She didn't bother taking the keys for Lena's car. Her parents would notice the car's disappearance and call the police. And then maybe later they'd end up noticing that their other daughter was missing. She had been staying in her room for days on end, and they barely even seemed to notice.

Oh sure, they weren't oblivious. They weren't ignorant. Lori simply didn't think they cared enough to do anything. Lena's birthday had been a few weeks ago, and just two days ago they had the big party. But amidst all the planning and organized chaos, something had gone unnoticed: Lori's own 19th birthday.

At first she had played along. Her dad and stepmom probably remembered. They just were planning on a surprise party, right? Or maybe they were going to start planning the party for a few days after Lena's. Right? No. No one mentioned a thing the entire week. Yesterday had come and gone, her birthday symbolized by twenty various facebook messages and a heartfelt card from Stephanie. However, her own father failed to even say a word. She had even gone up to him mentioning that today was her birthday. But he had shrugged it off, mentioning something

about Lena, cake, and belated tidings.

So he really didn't care. But it was the first of many offences. Normally she would have shrugged it off. In the chaos of planning a major party, anyone would be a bit confused. But this went father then that.

Her father ignored her, her stepmother hated her. And Lena? Well Lena never really trusted her after the Loki incident. She had complained that the incident changed her. Well it did. For the better. She finally saw the truth, Lori came into realization that her life had been much worse then she had ever thought.

She had moved with her family hundreds of miles away from all her friends, and the Young Avengers. She was only able to be in contact with Steph, occasionally she got a facebook message from the others, but nothing more than that. She just couldn't take the pain and hurt any longer. She was 19, she was free.

So she was running away.

A couple miles away from the house, she saw an abandoned car on the side of the road. With a bobby pin and a few choice curses, she managed to finally unlock the car and hotwire it successfully. She didn't care what direction she was going now, as long as it led away from the house- and Lena.

As she sped down the road (ignoring the speed limit), she felt liberated. No more responsibilities. No more people pretending to care about her, because they didn't. No one really did anymore. But she wasn't noticing where she was driving. She had long passed the paved roads, and even the gravel roads of the country. She was driving down some open field, long past where she knew she was.

Lori didn't see the cliff until she drove off of it.

She felt like she was falling, and Lori was certain that she was going to die. Then, as the ground was rapidly approaching, she vanished completely.

The car was gone. She opened her eyes tentatively. She looked around to see a familiar and entirely unexpected sight… the Helicarrier. Lori brushed herself off, still shaking from the experience. People bustled around her, not seeming to notice her presence. Then Agent Coulson walked past. He stopped.

"Lori? What are you doing…?" he paused.

Lori's eyes widened. "I have absolutely no idea."

(0)^_^(0)

Lena slammed the car door closed and took a deep breath, hands on the steering wheel.

"Here goes," she muttered, and pulled out of the gas station.

She had been driving around, searching for any sign of her missing friend. It was late at night- just like it had been when...

Lena shook herself out of her sad thoughts and flicked on her blinker, turning left onto a gritty old dirt road. She bumped down the road, before seeing bright lights ahead and smiling.

A few minutes later she pulled into a gas station. Lena pulled out her cellphone and turned it on, pulling up the 'missing person' poster.

Then she looked up, dead ahead, and stared at a sharp bend in the road.

There was a broken fence at the end of the road. She stared at the fence, before she pulled the keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car.

"Hey, missy, need some help?" a man called from the front of the gas station.

Lena sent him a quick smile. "Nah. What happened over there?" she asked, pointing at the break in the fence.

"Dunno. We woke up one morn and the fence was broke," the old man called.

"You didn't go look?" Lena asked, appalled.

The man burst into creaky laughter. "Missy, you see these joints?" He held up his hands. They were wizened and knobbly with age. "I cain't get down there!"

Lena sighed. "Sorry. I'm gonna go check and see if anything's down there."

"Be careful, missy!" the old man called as she hiked over to the break in the fence.

Lena peered down into the darkness and shivered. She pulled her phone out and flipped to the flashlight app, turning it on quickly.

Something glinted, down in the ravine; Lena's breath caught in her throat. "Oh no," she murmured, nibbling on her lip.

Slowly she began making her way down to the shiny object. The walls of the ravine were steep, and she slipped and slid her way down.

Sure enough, it was the rusty old car that had sat outside the junkyard close to Lena's house. It was looking pretty bent out of shape, and Lena clambered around to see if there was anything in the front seat.

She opened the door and her breath caught in her throat. A dufflebag was sitting in the passenger seat of the car, a cheap flip phone lying, open, on the floorboards. Lena scooped it up- sure enough, seven missed calls from herself.

She clambered into the front seat and glanced in the back, trying to see if there was anything else to identify the person who had been in the car.

A glint of gold caught Lena's attention, and she reached for the color. Her fingers tangled with silky smooth wool, and she drew a green-and-gold scarf into her lap.

Lena stared at the scarf, trying to hide her tears. She looked around desperately, searching for any dark red stains. She couldn't see any, and clutched the scarf to her chest.

Lena reached out and pulled the dufflebag to her side. She swung out of the truck and sighed wearily.

She turned around and looked at the cliff wearily, closing her eyes while she sighed.

Then she opened her eyes- and froze.

"That is not a cliff," she murmured.

Sure enough, she was now staring at a very tall tower. There was a deck under her feet, made of asphalt or something similar, and as she spun around, she could see a great many planes all around the deck.

"Miss Odinson!"

A shiver ran down Lena's back. It had been so long since she had heard that name...

She turned to see Agent Phil Coulson approaching. Not far behind was a familiar figure.

"Hello, Agent Coulson," she greeted with a rather loud voice, a gentle smile on her face. Then it widened.

"Lori!"

Lori's head snapped up, and she stared at Lena with an incredulous smile as she approached. Lori seemed nervous, and carefully wrapped both arms around Lena as the other girl squeezed tightly.

"I am extremely happy to see that you are alright!" Lena shouted happily.

Lori smiled weakly. "Good to see you too," she said softly, patting Lena's back.

"Miss Odinson, Miss Laufeyson, follow me, please," Agent Coulson said professionally.

Lena linked arms with Lori and grinned. "Shall we follow?" she asked Lori.

Lori nodded and followed Coulson.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again! I'm glad so many people are enjoying my story.

Please don't hate me for this chapter- it explains what happened to at least one of the Young Avengers and also why none of the original Avengers have been seen.

I'm doing my best to work ahead more. I have at least 10 or so chapters written and may have another down by tonight.

Because I never freaking remember, disclaimer is on my profile.

Enjoy!

(0)^_^(0)

Stephanie felt... weightless.

Her mind flashed back to her first visit to the Avengers universe. A weightless feeling- followed by a blue blast.

She set herself, ready to drop and roll at a moment's notice.

With a gentle thump, she dropped to land gently on an almost... springy surface.

Stephanie opened her eyes and gasped.

She was on the deck of the Helicarrier.

She looked around wildly. There were quinjets everywhere, some in prep for takeoff, one or two shooting into the sky. People were sprinting everywhere, waving arms at each other, some pressing hands to their ears as they spoke.

Stephanie risked a glance over the side. A small patch of blue caught her attention- they were in flight. No wonder everyone had masks on...

Someone signaled for her to get inside. She nodded and sprinted for the doors to the main area.

She made her way through the ship, taking turns and paths she didn't even remember to reach her destination. The doors with the SHIELD emblem loomed before her and she opened one.

It was just as she remembered it. Nick Fury had his back to her, directing the ship. She watched as Agent Jasper Sitwell walked by, talking quickly to Agent Maria Hill. Stephanie frowned. There was something not right...

She stepped inside and called out, "Director Fury!"

He whirled to look at her, coat flaring as he stared. The two agents came to a screeching halt and turned around to stare at her as Stephanie walked inside, hands in her pockets as she looked around.

"Miss Rogers. I was under the impression that you had returned to your own time for good," Director Fury said warily.

Stephanie shrugged. "So was I. Actually I was driving to get to Lori and Lena's place when I got in an accident- I think." She frowned. "It's all a bit fuzzy. I think I hit my head hard."

"In any event welcome back. We are in dire need of your skills once again," Fury said firmly, walking forward to stand in front of the smaller woman.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "Do tell. And where are the Avengers? I at least expected to see Nat and Clint wandering around."

Fury paused. Warning alarms began going off in the back of her mind.

"Miss Rogers, it is a very good thing you have returned. Because the Avengers- all of them- are missing."

"Missing? What do you mean by missing?" Stephanie asked sharply as the door behind her opened.

There was suddenly a heavy weight on her back. "Stephanie! Oh my goodness! I'm so glad you're ok!" Lori wailed in her ear.

Stephanie laughed and turned around, catching a brief glimpse of Phil Coulson. "Of course I'm ok, silly! Why would I not be?"

Lori paused. "Ah- you don't know?"

"Don't know what? Lori- what is it?"

Lori took a deep breath as Lena entered. "Steph, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I think I got in an accident. I must've hit my head because I don't remember anything after that," Stephanie said with a shrug.

"Stephanie- it's been two weeks. You died in that car crash. It was a drunk driver, on the wrong side of the road, and you were dead upon impact from what they said. Your funeral was four days ago," Lori said softly.

Stephanie pressed her hands to her mouth. "No- no, it can't be," she whispered. "I just got- knocked out. I'm fine."

"Stephanie, you were dead. I went to the funeral myself," Lori said, and cut off with a sob.

Stephanie hugged her silently, eyes wide with shock. "So I- I can't go back?" she asked softly.

"I do not believe so," Lena said quietly as she reached out a gentle hand to rest on Stephanie's shoulder. "I believe this is your permanent home now."

Stephanie drew back from the hug silently. "I- I need to go think," she said hurriedly and left as fast as she could.

(0)^_^(0)

Punch, punch, kick. Punch, punch, kick. Don't think about being dead. Don't think-

Stephanie yelled in frustration and slammed her foot into the punching bag- hard. It shot across the room and slammed hard into the wall.

"Mad?" a familiar voice asked.

"Hey Tash," Stephanie said heavily. "Glad to hear you made it."

"Same to you. Though I hear there's something- unfortunate about your circumstances."

Stephanie groaned and hung up another punching bag. "Don't-" *wham* "-talk-" *wham* "-to-" *wham* "-me-" *wham* "-about-" *wham* "THAT!" she exploded. With a final heave, she kicked the punching bag again, and back it went into the wall.

"Whoa, tiger, calm down!" Tasha said soothingly. "I don't know and I don't want to know. You're alive here. That's all that matters."

"Have any of the others shown up?"

"Claire and Nathan. Still waiting on Brenda, but she should be here... any-"

She was cut off by the door slamming open. "Stephanie!" Brenda shouted, as she covered the entire gym in three seconds flat and slammed into Stephanie's middle, sobbing into her shoulder.

Stephanie felt a stinging behind her own eyes as she patted Brenda's back gently. "There, there, it's alright, it's ok," she said calmly. "It's perfectly alright to cry..."

"Ohmygosh Stephanie- I cried for days- and they wanted me to speak at your funeral and I couldn't!" Brenda sobbed.

Stephanie mouthed 'Help me' to Tasha, who sighed and tapped her shoulder. "No hugs for the science sis? Boy, do I feel the love," she said dryly.

Brenda pulled back and hugged Tasha as well. "It's good to see you as well," she said with a sniff.

"Who told you that I was here?" Stephanie asked warily.

"I didn't- I literally ran into Agent Hill. Oh- that reminds me. They want you on the bridge. We're about to get a briefing in what's going on." Brenda walked to the door and opened it.

Stephanie squared her shoulders and followed Tasha and Brenda out.

(0)^_^(0)

"So tell us what you know," Stephanie said, very businesslike, as she sat down at the table.

Fury threw a folder onto the table. Tasha snatched it up and began reading through it quickly as Fury started talking.

"The Avengers went missing about three days ago. Miss Potts reported them missing two and a half days ago, when Jarvis failed to read their heat signatures in the Tower. We immediately started a face trace for them, but we only got one hit."

Fury swiped a panel to the large screen on the wall. It expanded to a recent picture of Thor, along with another of him looking battered, bloodied, and bruised. Lena growled, deep in the back of her throat.

"This was taken one day ago by a security camera in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. This is our only lead. Further review of the tapes reveal him going into this building-" Fury pointed to a building as two armored thugs, faces covered, dragged the demi-god into a freshly-repaired warehouse.

Lena suddenly rounded on Fury. "Where is Mjolnir?" she asked, voice deadly cold.

"The hammer is where Thor left it- at Avenger's Tower, in the main lounge."

Lena smiled mirthlessly. "Then suit up. We have places to be."


	4. Chapter 4

My bad...

I'm really sorry for taking so long to update! A lot of stuff happened, and I went to a concert last night... Shoddy excuses but it's the best that I've got.

So... I have a poll for you guys! And since the polling system on my profile doesn't work, here it is:

Vote 1 or 2.

That's it- just leave a comment with your number!

Enjoy this (very late) chapter!

(0)^_^(0)

Stephanie began making her way out of the room, only to pause as Agent Coulson tapped her shoulder. "Follow me," he said.

Stephanie did so, wondering why he wasn't leading her to her room.

"When you didn't return after a year, we figured you wouldn't fit into your old uniforms," Coulson explained over his shoulder as she caught up to him. "The others have other agents escorting them to their suits. We kept them in a vault, on one of the lower levels, but with your return we put them into fitting rooms to make sure you fit into them."

Stephanie nodded. "That makes sense," she said casually. "So, is this just a bigger version of my old costume...?"

"Well, we didn't have your old costumes to go off of-"

"What?! Why?!"

"They vanished with you. Only a few sets of your clothes were left behind. As I was saying, we figured out measurements according to the sizes of the clothes you left behind and scaled them up a bit. And no, it doesn't look much like your old uniform," Coulson explained, and left her to wonder as he opened the door.

Her first thoughts were "Oh my gosh- they got rid of the skirt."

Indeed, her skirt had vanished. Instead, she had a suit much more similar to her original's outfit, with the same inverted colors. She walked forward, silently noting the fingerless gloves and knee-high boots. Both were so blue they were almost black.

The mannequin spun at the push of a button. Stephanie began to smile.

"Can I try it on?" she asked.

"What's the point of clothes if you can't wear them?" Coulson asked dryly. "Go ahead. I'll be outside."

She waited until he was outside to lock the doors and switch outfits. Her new suit was slightly skintight, and she adjusted the sleeves a bit, trying to make the seams itch less. The back zipper stuck about halfway up, and Stephanie caught her breath. She sucked her stomach all the way in and finished pulling the zipper tag up, breathing a soft sigh of relief as she did so.

Stephanie unlocked the door. "Did you design this?" she asked cautiously as Coulson stepped back inside.

"I had a hand in it. What do you think?" he asked anxiously.

"It looks..." She hesitated. "More mature. In a good way. It's just a little... skintight."

"We can adjust it later," he said hastily. "The others are getting impatient, though."

She spun around, slightly missing her old uniform's skirt. "One thing, Coulson?" she asked.

"Hm?"

"Can I get a small knife- right here?" she asked, pointing to her wrist.

Coulson hesitated.

"It's just- I'm not my father. I've seen some bad things that could've been averted if someone had permanently taken down a threat." Stephanie shifted uncomfortably.

Coulson seemed to consider her request, before finally saying slowly, "I'll look into it. It might take a few days to build. It'd have to be springloaded, with a way of springing it on someone..." He trailed off and nodded. "I'll get some researchers on it."

"Thank you," Stephanie said warmly, and hugged him quickly. "I appreciate it."

"What will your father think?" Coulson asked.

Stephanie paused. "Um. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she finally said. "They're getting impatient...?"

"Follow me."

Stephanie picked up her shield and settled it on her arm. "Ready."

They retraced their steps, running into Claire as they walked. She wolf-whistled quietly upon seeing Stephanie's outfit.

"Shut up!" she said, blushing cherry red. "Because yours is oh-so-much better."

Claire's uniform was also skintight, clinging to her wiry frame. Her quiver looked interwoven into the back of the black tank-top. The tank-top had an asymmetric design on the front, with the deep purple cutting a wide swath from her right shoulder to her left hip. The black of her shirt bled into her black skinny-jean-pant-things. Her shoes were sensible black and purple tennis shoes, laced up to her calves.

Claire smiled coldly. "Not that I have anyone I need to show off to."

Stephanie winced at the reminder of the shattered relationship. She still had no clue what had gone wrong between the two.

They almost literally ran into Brenda, who had the same outfit- lavender tank-top and dark khaki pants- that she usually wore when Hulk'd out. "Lookin' good!" she complimented the two girls.

"I feel like EVERYTHING IS SHOWING," Stephanie muttered to her.

"Because it kinda is," she said, completely calm, ignoring Stephanie's sputtering.

Lena, Nathan, Lori, and Tasha were waiting outside of a quinjet, talking among themselves. Tasha was the first to spot them and grinned.

"Hey, you three! Trying to show us up?" she hollered.

"Whatever could you mean?" Claire asked dryly, doing her best to ignore Nathan.

"Besides the fact that all of the young recruits were staring at your a***s as you came over here? Nothing."

"WHAT?!" Stephanie practically screamed, and whipped around to catch at LEAST three young 20-somethings hurriedly turning away.

Lori started laughing and walked over to hug her friend. "Oh, you. Never, ever, ever change," she told Stephanie.

"If I could lose the skin-tight suit, maybe I could stay the same," she muttered. A sudden idea struck her and she slid both arms around her back, using her shield to hide her backside.

"I think you just disappointed some of the noobs," Tasha said, eyes dancing merrily.

"Let them be disappointed! I am NOT a piece of meat to eye!" Stephanie snapped angrily.

"Whoa there! No need to get so upset!" Tasha said, holding her hands up in the universal "whoa bro" sign.

Stephanie sighed and looked around at the others. Tasha had an "Iron Maiden" tee-shirt on- fitting, seeing as that was her chosen superhero name. She assumed that Tasha would be picking up a suit at the Tower, perhaps one of Tony's- she guessed they were about the same height.

Nathan had a black leather jacket zipped up to his chin with sharp studs all over it. He had black pants as well, and his red hair was buzz-cut to almost nothing. Normally it stuck up everywhere, with curls abounding.

Lena had a red cape trailing in the breeze behind her, fastened at the shoulders with small silver lightning bolts. Her armor was all silver, looking almost like a fishnet stocking covering her arms. She had kept the decorative circles, six in all, spread over her torso, and had a navy blue tee-shirt and leggings on under the armor.

Lori wore essentially a dress version of Loki's armor. It was a green and black dress, that reached just above the knee. Long armored black and grey tights trailed down to black boots. The dress was armored with thick black leather crisscrossing around her waist. Green fabric covered her shoulders, connecting together at the neck with a gold band. A small portion of skin was revealed just under her neck and ended above the chest, where the armor started. From the waist down, green, black, and gold fabric was layered, and a belt that looked similar to Loki's shoulderguard was wrapped loosely on her waist. And to complete the look, she held a thin staff in her right hand, which was covered by a thick armguard.

"When are we departing?" Lena asked impatiently. "I wish to rescue my father!"

"You're leaving now," a cool voice said. They turned to see two SHIELD agents, accompanied by Maria Hill, staring at them.

"You didn't tell us we were flying the Young Avengers!" one protested.

"Get over your hero worship and get them to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico," Maria said, giving the seven a sharp nod, which they returned.

"Yes ma'am," one said quickly, saluting as she turned and walked away.

The agents turned and slid past the Young Avengers as they walked in and sat down on the seats, quickly strapping themselves in. "We need to do a pitstop at Stark Tower," Tasha called to them as they took off.

"Stark Tower? You mean Avenger's Tower?" one asked.

"Yeah. We need to swing by and grab a few things."

"Yes ma'am. Settle in, we'll be there in 30 minutes," the other agent said, and off they went.

(0)^_^(0)

The quinjet landed with a gentle *thump* on the deck of Avenger's Tower. The Young Avengers offloaded quickly and were met by a familiar- if slightly older- face.

"Pepper!" Tasha shouted, running towards Tony's secretary. Pepper smiled wanly and caught Tasha, hugging her tightly as the other Young Avengers crowded around.

She gently kissed Tasha's forehead and exchanged hugs and handshakes with the others. "I'm so glad to see you all, safe and sound," she said, feeling filling her voice. "If anyone can save Tony and the others, it's you."

Lena briefly smiled at Pepper and walked into the main lounge. "Jarvis!" she called loudly. "Where is my father's hammer?"

"It is currently on the next floor up, Miss Odinson. If you wish to step outside, I shall open a window so that you can summon it," the crisp British butler said.

Lena nodded and stepped back out onto the deck. She focused solely on the feeling in her gut that she connected to lightning and extended her right hand.

A window on the second floor opened suddenly, and a very familiar hammer shot out of the opening. A slow grin spread across Lena's face and she wrapped her hand tightly around the hilt.

Immediately, she felt a huge shock run through her veins, jolting the sleeping power in her to life. Lena raised Mjolnir to the skies and gathered lightning in the clouds overhead.

"Get back!" someone shouted and she grinned silently.

A supercharged bolt of lightning struck the hammer, and Lena channeled the power into her core. Age had strengthened and expanded her well of lightning, she found, because two years ago, she would have shorted out long ago. Lightning hummed through her veins and she abruptly cut the lightning off, dispersing the clouds with a wave of her free hand.

"That... was awesome," Tasha said delicately, in the silence that followed her light show.

Pepper smiled wearily, brushing strands of red hair out of her eyes. "Tasha, Tony made you a suit," she told the young woman. "He kept it in his workshop. It should still be there."

Tasha nodded and gave Pepper another hug. "I'll call you the second we rescue Tony," she said. "I'll call you straight away."

Pepper smiled again. "Thank you. Jarvis, send up Tasha's suit."

"Might I suggest she put on the bracelets that you wear?" the AI asked delicately.

Her eyes widened. "So that's what these are?!" she gasped, pulling the silver bracelets off and examining them more closely. "Why did Tony never tell me?"

"He wanted to keep them out of enemy hands?" Tasha said, a slight frown on her face. "I'll ask when we find him." She accepted the bracelets and clipped them onto her wrists.

"Jarvis, send up the suit, please."

They only waited for about five seconds before the window flew open again and a hot-rod red and gold suit shot out of the opening. Tasha grinned and extended her arms, at a ninety degree angle to her body as the suit clamped onto her back and wrapped around her body. Within seconds, the helmet formed around her face and Tasha had to hide a tear as a familiar HUD display popped up in front of her eyes.

"It's good to be home," she sighed.

"Now let us be off!" Lena cried, raising Mjolnir to the skies.

With a quick hug to Pepper- little more than a gentle pat on the shoulder, seeing as Tasha now had her armor on- they reboarded the quinjet and took off.


	5. Chapter 5

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

[insert obligatory forever-alone comment here]

Yeah, I got one card-

-from my parents. As usual.

But I got a new iPad case!

So yeah. I finally got a poll up and running on my profile that you need to go check out because depending on what you say I may have to change bits of the storyline.

In two words- BIG DEAL.

Enjoy le chapter!

(0)^_^(0)

They landed on the outskirts of Puente Antiguo, far enough away to not attract too much attention as they rolled into town in two black vans.

Jane Foster met them at her base of operations, worry in her deep brown eyes as she introduced herself. "Jane Foster. I understand Thor is missing?"

"Yes ma'am," Stephanie said. "We're going to get him back."

Jane did a double-take. "You're so young- you can't be older than 20!" she said in surprise.

"Age doesn't matter, Miss Foster. We are all older than we look," Lena said quietly. "Lena Odinson. I am Thor's... clone. I believe he explained a bit of what happened in New York to you?" She extended a hand to Jane.

"Yes, emphasis on 'bit'," Jane said dryly, taking and shaking the offered hand. "Call me Jane. If you need anything, just let me know."

Nathan nodded. "Thank you for your generous offer. Some SHIELD agents and Claire will be staying behind to ensure your personal safety. When we retrieve Thor, we will bring him here. He may need medical attention."

Jane nodded, shoving her brown hair out of her face. "I understand. We have some medical facilities available. The nearest hospital is rather small, and has had... difficulties with Thor before."

"He often talks about his time here, with you. Always with an extreme fondness. He really cares for you, Jane," Tasha said conversationally.

"Enough yammering. I want to see Thor again, and we're wasting time!" Lena growled.

"Sorry, Jane. Gotta run before Lena follows her head and just falls through the ceiling," Lori said dryly, sweeping her jacket out in a bow to the smaller woman. "Be safe." She turned and followed her step-sister out of the lab.

"Claire Barton," they heard Claire say as they walked out of the building. "I think you're familiar with my own clone..."

(0)^_^(0)

Lena took a deep breath as she sidled around the side of a small coffee shop, which backed up to the warehouse Thor was in.

"Lena, come in," Brenda said over the comm from her place back at Jane's laboratory. "What is your position?"

"I am about to round the corner, Brenda," Lena murmured. "Where are the others?"

"Tasha's on the roof of the lab," she said. "Stephanie and Nathan have civilian clothes on over their outfits and are walking in front of the warehouse. Lori's on a rooftop, to your right and up."

Lena glanced up to the roof Brenda was speaking of and waved to Lori. Lori waved back cautiously as she scanned the area.

"We need Claire next time," Lori said into the comm. "She's better at seeing from a distance."

Lena frowned. "Then remember that, next time we must go on a mission," she said. "I can see the back door. There are 2 guards on a smoking break."

"Lori, can you take care of them?" Brenda asked.

Lori was silent for a moment.

"Lori...?"

"I think so," Lori said hesitantly. "It's been a while since I used magic."

"Just do your best. Lena can back you up on the ground if you need it."

"Got it."

Lena watched as Lori rose into a kneeling position and aimed her staff at the two men. Her lips moved, though no sound escaped them, and two green and gold balls shot out of the tip of the spear.

One man saw it coming. His eyes widened and he said, "What th-" He never finished his sentence. The globes instantly incinerated him and his companion.

"Alright, here we go!" Lena said, and sprinted for the back door, stepping around the burnt corpses lying on the ground. "I am going to go in!"

"Put your foot through the door," Brenda instructed. "Stephanie and Nathan are right in front of the warehouse."

Lena took a few steps back and steadied herself. Her boot flew out once- twice-

BAM!

The door flew open. Lena sprinted inside as several men came to their feet, shouting in alarm. "I'm in!" she said quickly.

"Get a move on!" Brenda ordered the others, and Lena saw the front door burst open as Stephanie and Nathan came in.

There were about ten to fifteen men in the room, some armed, some not. Lena roared as two of them open fired on her, trying to give some of the unarmed men time to run for their guns, and charged like a bull. Mjolnir swung through the air and the two men went flying, guns bent irreparably.

Lena risked a glance over to see how Stephanie and Nathan were doing. Nathan had his pistols out and was firing away, taking several of the men down, and Stephanie was shielding both him and herself.

The roof creaked ominously, and Lena grinned.

Tasha dropped through the ceiling, Iron Maiden armor on and all guns blazing. A wall exploded off to Lena's right, and Lori stepped out of the smoke dramatically.

"Lena, do you have any visual on Thor?" Brenda asked.

Lena glanced around as she deflected a few bullets and said, "No. There is a room that is highly suspicious, however."

"Take them down, then check it out," Brenda ordered.

Lena nodded and roared once again as she slammed Mjolnir into a man's side. Bullets strafed her face for a moment, before Lori blasted them.

"Four left," Stephanie reported. Lena caught her ruthlessly slamming the edge of her shield into a man's neck. Nathan finished the man off. "Now three."

"Left, Lena!" Brenda called suddenly.

Lena spun and dodged a man, catching him in the back with Mjolnir. He flew into the wall and Lori made sure of his death.

"That's all!" Nathan shouted, as Tasha blasted the final man. "Brenda, make sure!"

"One sec... I'm reading five heat signatures. Lena, check in that room, I'm reading a massive spike in temperature in there," she said.

Lena wrapped Mjolnir's wrist strap around a notch on her belt and made her way through the crowded room, picking her way around bodies.

"Lena- key!" Lori called, and tossed a small keychain to her.

She caught the keys and walked forward, thumbing through them. She found a ragged old key that matched the lock and slid it into the knob, twisting it around.

The knob turned, and Lena pulled the door open.

"Father?"

She found a lightswitch and turned on the light.

"Father!"

Lena sprinted forward and fell to her knees beside the single chair.

Thor was unconscious, slumped forward in his chair. Ropes were wound around him, keeping him from standing. On a normal day, he would have had no problem in breaking free- but he looked heavily sedated.

At Lena's cry, however, his eyes flickered. He blinked several times, looking around blearily.

"Father, you're alright!" Lena whispered, breaking the ropes quickly.

"Lena- you have returned?" Thor whispered, voice weary.

Lena helped Thor stand up and slung his arm over her shoulder. "I'm here. We came back," she said softly, leaving the small room behind.

They stepped into the main room and Lori immediately began jabbering away to Brenda. Tasha dropped out of the sky and slid one arm under Thor's arm.

"Let's go," she told Lena. "It'll be faster to walk- the suit isn't strong enough to carry him, I don't think."

Lena nodded mutely and shouldered her burden. "Let's go," she murmured.

They slowly made their way to Jane's observatory. Jane herself was waiting for them, and gasped when she saw Thor.

"Oh my goodness! Quick, come in, come in," she urged, glancing around furtively as she gestured for them to get inside. Lena and Tasha obeyed and quickly stepped into the building.

"I have a bed set up, and one of my workers used to be a field medic," Jane said worriedly. "Follow me."

Brenda stood up from a small cubicle as they walked by and joined them. "Claire?" Lena asked her.

"I'm on the roof," the archer said quickly. "Two men tried to break in. I got them both and tossed them into a dumpster near here."

"Got it- thanks," Stephanie murmured. "Keep watch. We have Thor-"

"He's in bad shape, I know," Claire said. "I watched him come in."

"Good. Keep your eyes on everything and holler if you see anything suspicious."

"Got it."


	6. Chapter 6

Guys.

Guys really.

GUYS.

Not cool guys...

The poll is not one of those stupid "keep the lines even" things you see on Facebook all the time.

The poll is to DECIDED THE FATE OF A HUMAN BEING.

Please. Guys, really.

*DON'T KEEP THE LINES EVEN.*

Rant over!

Soooo yeah! Aftermath of Thor's rescue today!

I keep forgetting to say- Go read the final chapter of All Hallow's again. Stephanie hitting somebody? Actually happened. To me. I was in Stephanie's place. Felt SOOOOOOO bad for the poor girl I clobbered. *embarassed blush*

Enjoy!

And for the final time: THE POLL. I NEED YOU TO VOTE.

(0)^_^(0)

"Well, he's alive, but he's been majorly drugged. Not sure when he'll wake up-" Brenda said nervously, only to be interrupted with, "Jane Foster? What am I doing here?" in the background.

Lena sprinted into the room. "Father!" she yelled, and flung herself down beside him, wrapping both arms around his upper torso. She held on tight as Thor gently squeezed her arm, holding back tears of joy and relief at being reunited after so long apart.

"Budapest," Thor said loudly.

"Budapest?" Jane asked, confusion in her voice.

He looked at someone over Lena's head and said firmly, "They mentioned that the assassins were in Budapest. Somewhere, in a large warehouse." He looked tired from saying even that much and sat back in the pillows.

"Budapest- it's like Budapest all over again..."

Lena started. Nathan and Stephanie were in the doorway, and Nathan was already hitting buttons on his cell. He paused, cell to his ear, impatiently tapping his foot, before suddenly saying, "Fury, we're going to need every document you have on the Budapest incident with Hawkeye and the Black Widow... Why? Because we needed that information yesterday..." He trailed off as he left the room.

"Are we going back to the Helicarrier? Will you be able to be moved?" Lena asked Thor, drawing back slightly and wiping her eyes.

"He'll have to make do. Fury wants us back now, Lena. Jane, Director Fury is asking you to come with," Nathan said as he walked back in, phone clicking closed.

"Ok. Let me go pack a bag," she said quickly and began to stand.

Lori moved forward and said, "I'll accompany you, just in case someone managed to escape."

Jane nodded and quickly walked out of the room. Thor was dozing off, and Lena gently placed Mjolnir back in his hand, curling his fingers around it.

(0)^_^(0)

They left as quickly as they had come. The vans picked them up and took them back out, deep into the desert, where the two quinjets swept them back to the Helicarrier. Stephanie checked her watch as they lifted off. The entire mission had taken just under three hours.

They were all silent as they flew away, all still trying to come to terms with any number of things. For Stephanie, that included her apparent 'death' in the other world, her adoptive father going missing, and a few other things that she tried not to think about.

They were about thirty minutes away, when the wind began picking up. "Where'd this come from?" the pilot of their quinjet asked suspiciously.

"Lena? Any ideas?" Tasha asked.

"No- unless-"

The sky lit up with a light show to rival the Aurora Borealis. "This- I know this- this is like when Thor came!" Jane gasped through her own comm.

"Lori- you're up. I'll bet you anything that's-" Stephanie said urgently as she stood up.

Lori cut her off with a wave of her hand and formed her scepter. She gestured for the quinjet to stop. It dropped lower, and she teleported to the ground, looking up at the sky as the tornado-like clouds dropped down.

Sure enough, as the clouds rolled away, a lone figure was left standing among the runes on the desert sand. Lori walked forwards and looked up into the face of her own original.

"Hello, Loki."

(0)^_^(0)

"So you have already retrieved Thor?" Loki asked briskly.

"Yes. Just took us a few hours. You missed by only a little bit," Lori said as she pointed to a seat.

"Heimdall told me that you were in need of assistance. He requested of the All-Father that I be allowed to come to Midgard and assist you in their recovery as part of my punishment," Loki said. He looked slightly distasteful as he continued, "I was not given a choice to consent or decline."

"Brother?" Thor asked, voice dry and tired as he struggled to sit up. Jane assisted him carefully. "You are here?"

"Yes, Thor," Loki said quietly. "You heard what I said, did you not?"

"Aye, brother. I am glad our father allowed you to come."

Loki looked like he was about to say something snappy, but instead held his tongue as Jane glared at him. Lori hid a smile at the shorter woman's power, even over Asgardian gods.

(0)^_^(0)

They landed and immediately went to the conference room to get briefed on the mission in Budapest. Thor was taken to the infirmary, though by the look of things, he was going to be fine.

"Budapest was Agent Barton's and Agent Romanoff's first mission together. They were told to infiltrate a smuggling ring and retrieve sensitive information that had been stolen by a rival agent," Director Fury said as they listened intently and took notes.

"They successfully infiltrated the ring. However, when they went to retrieve the stolen documents, they were discovered partway through retrieval and were chased into an abandoned warehouse.

"They were outnumbered about 75 to 2, and were forced to fight all the enemies in close quarters. Just when they thougt they were done, another wave forced them to fight their way to the retrieval helicopter."

Nathan whistled in appreciation of their accomplishment. "Where was this warehouse located?"

"Here." Fury pointed to a place on a map. "This was the warehouse. It's long since been abandoned, but would be the perfect place to keep two master assassins."

Stephanie nodded and sat back. "Something's been bothering me. Why kidnap the Avengers? What is their motive?"

"Good question. There's nothing we can think of at this time," Fury said.

"Why would they take them... why... why would they-" Claire snapped her fingers. "Is there any large, extremely publicized event coming up within the next week?"

"Yes-" Tasha said, staring at the screen before her. "There's a UN meeting scheduled to occur in a week and a half." She looked up at Fury. "I need you to get that agenda for me to know what's going on at that meeting that could cause this."

Fury nodded. "I'll call in a few favors. You should have it by the time you return."

She rose. "Good. When do we move out?"

"We can move out now."

"Actually I need to do some work on my outfit- it got a bit beat up. Give me fifteen minutes so we can eat as well?" Stephanie asked.

"Break. Meet on the deck in fifteen. Be ready for anything."

(0)^_^(0)

Stephanie swung into the quinjet and sat down in her seat. Tasha was hovering in the air, ready to go at a moment's notice, as Nathan sprinted aboard. Claire walked on board right behind and gestured for Lori, Lena, Loki, and Thor to get aboard. Brenda was staying behind to give directions from security cameras, satellites, and thermal imaging cameras.

"Final checks- ready for takeoff," Nathan said firmly as he flipped levers and pushed buttons.

"All clear. Off the ground," Claire said.

"You sure you know how to fly this thing?" Lena asked hesitantly.

"Of course I do," Nathan snapped. "I took a ten-minute flight lesson. We'll be fine. I can't say the same for the smart-a** next to me."

"Excuse me? I know everything you know and it took me five minutes to learn. Watch who you're calling smart-a**."

"Oh yeah? Well at least I showed up sooner and was more useful than you with retrieving Thor," Nathan retorted.

"Hello! Who stuck me back with Jane-"

"That is ENOUGH!" Stephanie shouted.

They shut up and quelled under her icy glare as she stalked to the front of the plane. "I have had ENOUGH of your whinging. It stops now," she hissed. "You have been like this for six months. I haven't had a pleasant moment with you two in the room for ages. Just get us where we need to go, and quit fighting until we're all safe."

They both nodded, silenced, and Stephanie walked into the back of the plane, sitting down with a sigh.

"Steph? You alright?" Lori asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," she said. "Just- I'm tired of their fighting. I really shouldn't've lost my temper like that. Sorry."

Silence filled the cabin for the rest of their flight. No one commented on the silent tears rolling down Stephanie's face.


	7. Chapter 7

Yay! Winner of the poll was: 2! Which means nothing right now. But YOU'LL SEE LATER.

Funny to be posting from my computer instead of from my iPad. But eh. It's nice. :)

In any event, enjoy this chapter. I'm changing my profile pic, just as a heads-up. So you won't get confused. Not that you'd care.

Ramble over!

(0)^_^(0)

The quinjet landed seven blocks away in the pre-dawn darkness. They quickly turned all lights off and slid out the back. Claire and Nathan decided to take the roof route, and quickly scaled their way to the top of a nearby office building.

They scrambled over the roofs, muddling their way across Budapest, until a spotlight came out of nowhere and almost caught them.

Nathan swore and yanked Claire behind an air conditioning unit. They stayed still until the light swept off to their left.

"Brenda, any sightings of guards?" Claire asked softly, barely a breath in the night as she crawled around the corner of the unit.

"Um- One on each corner of the building, two two-man patrols on the ground. Don't have any visuals on the men inside or on rooftops."

"Great. Thanks, Bren," Nathan murmured. "Any suggestions?"

"There's a few cars at the... south entrance. If you light them up, you should be able to create a distraction."

"Lena?" Claire said. "I believe you're up."

Claire and Nathan didn't have to be on the ground to see the evil grin spreading across Lena's face.

"Make your way to the warehouse itself," she ordered. "Wait for my signal."

"Yesm," Nathan said quickly.

They crept to the edge of the roof and peered down over the dark yard. Claire had to focus to see Lena creeping around the perimeter of the yard.

She didn't have to see the commotion that was suddenly caused.

An explosion rocked the small compound and shouts echoed across the yard. Claire grinned and shot a glance at Nathan.

"Ready?" she asked him quietly as she reached for a grappling arrow.

He nodded and Claire drew her bowstring back to her ear. She sighted carefully, aiming for a point right above a large hole that was once a window.

"Firing," she whispered, and released.

The arrow flew true, and buried itself deep into the concrete. Claire anchored the other end of the tether into the rooftop and clipped her zipline harness onto the cable.

Nathan did the same and quickly leapt off the edge. Claire watched anxiously as the line bowed, but held, and he slid through the window with no problems.

She followed behind and prayed that no one would think to look up.

Nathan caught her as she flew through the window and almost fell off the rafters. Claire forced herself back, trying not to fall.

They steadied themselves and simply stood there for a brief moment. "Brenda?" Claire asked after a moment. "Where're Dad and Natasha being held?"

"One sec," she said. "I'm trying to hack the security cameras..."

They waited for only a few more moments before Brenda said, "I'm in. Looks like they're in the back left corner?"

"You don't sound certain," Nathan murmured.

"I'm sure. Had to look again."

"I'm gonna trust you on this," he murmured, and sarcastically gestured for Claire to go first.

She smirked at him and took his invitation, sprinting along the rafters. He followed behind her until Claire suddenly halted, hands to her mouth.

The two assassins were facing each other. Clint was standing, limp, gagged and tied to a pole, while Natasha was in a chair, bolted to the floor, also tied up and gagged. They looked much the worse for wear, and Nathan growled softly.

"Got them. Back left corner just like you said, Bren. Very bad condition, the two of them. Be careful getting them out. We'll need you guys to sneak in and get them out of here. Claire, smoke bomb. Now," Nathan muttered.

Claire nodded and hit a few buttons on her bow. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and pointed it at the ground, exactly between the two assassins. Breathe in, breathe out- fire.

Natasha spotted the arrow first. She caught Clint's eye and looked at it. His own eyes widened- and Claire activated the arrow.

Smoke poured out of the arrow, concealing the area with the two assassins easily. Nathan watched carefully as several dark figures snuck forwards, undid the bonds, and helped Clint and Natasha limp out of the smoke and back into the shadows.

The smoke took two minutes to clear, and when it did, the kidnappers were left running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Their hostages were nowhere to be found.

Nathan placed the bomb and set the timer for one minute exactly. "Everyone clear?" he asked quickly.

"Halfway to the quinjet," Stephanie reported.

"Good. Lena with you?"

"Right here, Nathan," Lena said over the comm. "Right next to them."

"Kay, we got a minute to get out, Claire," he hissed.

"Got it. Moving out."

Together they ran across the rafters and slid down the front wall of the building, hidden in shadows. Out they went into the front yard and skidded to a halt.

"Crap- the guard is back on duty," Claire hissed.

"Then distract them!" Brenda said quickly. "You have thirty seconds left!"

Claire shot another arrow in front of them, which exploded. That summoned all of the other guards and drew their attention as they ran away.

"Crap. Brenda, give me a time!" Nathan muttered.

"Ten seconds-"

"Tell me at five."

"Five!"

"Get down!" Nathan shoved Claire to the ground and shielded them both with his arms.

The building behind them went up in a rush of flames and smoke. The shockwave was enough to send them rolling across the ground.

"We're ok!" Claire shouted, as she rolled to her feet and held out a hand to Nathan. He grabbed it and stood quickly, falling into step right beside her as they began walking back. "How're Clint and Natasha doing?"

"Not good. Clint seems to have lost a lot of blood. I don't know what they did to him but it's bad- what?" Stephanie seemed to be listening to someone, then said urgently, "Get back here. He needs a blood transfusion and you're the same blood type as him."

Claire and Nathan immediately began running back to the quinjet.

(0)^_^(0)

"Ok, he's stable at the least," Claire said through their comms.

"Oh thank God," Brenda said with feeling as the whole team let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm glad to hear that the mighty archer shall be fine," Thor said. Lena nodded and smiled from her place right next to Thor.

Natasha rubbed her arm quietly, trying not to show the ache in her left shoulder. It had been dislocated, and had to be snapped back in.

Quite suddenly, Natasha looked up. "Afghanistan. Tony's in Afghanistan. I don't know exactly where, just get the file on his time there being hostage and get the co-ords for the cave."

Tasha was up and running before Natasha could finish her sentence.

"This is starting to seem verrrrrry convenient," Lori commented. "Each of you knowing where the next is hidden. It's like they want us to find you..."

"You're right. Brenda, what did you gather on the UN meeting?"

"Long schedule. We need to know WHO is doing this in order to figure out if this is the target," Brenda said, frustration evident in her voice.

"Natasha, Thor, were there any symbols that you could see?" Stephanie asked.

"No. We were under the single lightbulb in the warehouse. We couldn't see a single thing," Natasha said wearily.

"I was tranquilized for my entire captivity, Lady Stephanie. I know nothing that could be of use."

Lori and Loki walked in, just as Tasha came running back in. "Got it. Coordinates are here-" she slammed a finger onto a small map in her other hand- "and we leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What if they're torturing him?" Nathan asked in concern.

Tasha's shoulders sagged in sadness. "I pleaded for today, but Fury wants us to get as much rest as possible. 'You'll need it,' he says. 'You won't do any good if you fall asleep during a mission,' he says."

"Very good points," Lori said dryly.

"Shut up! You're supposed to agree with me, not disagree!"

"Look, calm down and get some rest. First thing in the morning, we move out."


	8. Chapter 8

Hey! Not much to say tonight. Disclaimer on my profile, enjoy the story!

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She woke up very early to her stomach rolling over and over. She slapped her hand over her mouth and just laid there for a moment, trying to make the disgusting feeling subside.

She knew it wouldn't work from past experience and swung out of bed, sprinted to the bathroom, and hardly made it to the toilet, where she lost everything she'd eaten in the past few hours.

Stephanie just knelt there for a while, breathing heavily while her stomach revolted against her. She pressed one hand flat to her stomach, using her other hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

Finally, trembling like a leaf, she stood up and clung onto the sink vanity. She made eye contact with herself in the mirror and started slightly at her ghostly appearance. Pale skin, sweaty, red-rimmed eyes...

She wiped her mouth off and took a sip of water, washing her mouth out and spitting the water into the toilet. One flush later and all evidence of her lost meals vanished.

She made her way back into her main bedroom and pulled her suit out of the closet. With a gentle toss it landed on her bed and she made her way over to her desk, fishing out a small sewing kit she'd had in her duffle bag when she... came to the Avenger's universe.

There were holes scattered over the surface of her suit, and she immediately matched up the colors of the thread and the fabric. She had to pause for her shaking hands to still before she could thread the needle, but finally she managed to do it and set to work repairing her suit.

After a while she finally finished sewing up holes and put her sewing kit away. She smoothed her hand over the star in the center of her top and sighed a bit.

It reminded her of her own missing original, more than she cared to admit. She closed her eyes and imagined his face- shy, hiding a laugh, with blue eyes crinkled and blonde hair carefully combed out of his face. Then she shook herself out of her stupor and sewed up a long gash on the sleeve, dusted a few bits of ash off of the shoulder, and went to go shower.

Tasha came blazing into her room thirty minutes later as she was brushing her teeth. "We're leaving in five- be ready," she said firmly, and went blasting out to tell the others.

Stephanie nodded silently, grabbed her shield, and locked her door behind her. She walked down the hallway, running into Claire and Brenda, who were dressed as well.

"Staying here, right, Bren?" Stephanie asked.

"As always. I'm not staying back when we find Bruce, though," Brenda said firmly.

"No one would expect you to. Tasha's suiting up. We're leaving now," Claire said.

Stephanie nodded and they split up, Stephanie and Claire to the quinjets and Brenda to the main bridge.

They all met up at the quinjets and swung aboard. Clint and Natasha were sitting this mission out, though Natasha was almost totally fine and the only reason she was staying was for Clint. Even though she vehemently denied it.

"Cleared for takeoff. Heading for Afghanistan now," Claire said firmly, flicking switches as they took off.

(0)^_^(0)

The two quinjets landed a half-mile away, facing the back of the base. Tasha glanced over at the others and nodded briefly, before taking off in a stream of smoke.

She landed gently at a rise, right beside the entrance to the camp. She stared hard at the entrance, watching the guards carefully.

The coast was clear- she took off with lowered rocket capacity and landed on the roof gently. The roof warped a tiny bit, and Tasha held her breath, hoping no one would notice.

"Tasha, coords?" Brenda asked.

"Right over their heads," she breathed softly.

"God, Tasha, don't get yourself killed!" Brenda said exasperatedly.

"I won't. Relay my position to the others. I'm going in," she muttered.

She landed behind a guard and quickly twisted his throat, killing him instantly. She took a deep breath to calm her hammering heart and said, "Jarvis, dim the lights by 75%."

The shining glow of her Arc Reactor dimmed dramatically, and Tasha nodded. "Good. Thanks."

"Be careful, Miss Stark," the AI said.

"Will do." She flipped over to the open channel and said, "Alright, I'm going in."

"Got it. On our way to your location now," Claire said.

Tasha smirked and slid into the cave.

The ceilings were very low, causing her to crouch in places. She encountered a few other guards and killed them all- the less opposition she had on the way out, the better.

She slid down the hallway and peered carefully into the room. There were a few flickering lights, and Tasha had to duck back as a person passed within a few feet of her.

There were two other people in the room, and Tasha worried her lip. "Caught at a kitchen, by the looks of things," she muttered. "Three people in line of sight."

"Got it. Recommended course of attack, Jarvis?" Brenda asked.

"I would recommend a grenade under the table, Miss Stark, Miss Banner," Jarvis said.

"Got it. Ready the grenade," she ordered.

A grenade clicked out of a shoulder panel, and Tasha caught it. She slid one metallic finger into the pin and yanked- hard.

The pin came free and she gently lobbed the grenade. It landed under the table, and Tasha waited, huddled in the tunnel.

BOOM.

"Well, they know I'm here," Tasha said dryly, sprinting into the kitchen and clicking her wrist gun up into place. "I'm going for it."

She sprinted across the kitchen and into another hallway. Someone saw her and opened his mouth to shout- Tasha shot him quickly.

"Jarvis, heat signatures," she hissed.

An overlay of blues, greens, and oranges popped up on her screen. She stuck her head around the corner and muttered a few words.

"I see the cell," she said. "Goin' in."

"Got it. We're on our way to your location," Nathan said.

Tasha nodded and ran down the hallway, skidding to a stop outside a metal-barred cell. She shot the lock off and kicked the door open, sprinting in and dropping to her knees besides Tony.

"Dad?" she asked, voice shaking as she tore at his shirt, trying to see the Arc Reactor. "Dad, can you hear me?"


	9. Chapter 9

Hey! I am SO SORRY for the wait. I honestly meant to update on Friday night, but I was busy and came home and just CRASHED. Saturday wasn't much better. But tonight you get an update!

Sooooo yeah. Sorry for the wait and enjoy the chapter!

(0)^_^(0)

Tasha released a breath as the Arc Reactor came into view. It was glowing, sickly pale and dim, but it was still there. "Jarvis, gimme power in the right blaster. I'm gonna try and power this sucker up."

"Miss Stark, I recommend placing your palm over the blaster and gradually increasing the power," the British butler said.

"Good idea. Tell me if anyone's coming."

Tasha placed her hand over the Arc Reactor and waited as the power gradually increased. "Power in the Arc Reactor at 62%, Miss Stark," Jarvis finally said. "If you use any more, you will lose control of several parts on the Iron Maiden suit."

Tasha sighed. "It'll do for now," she said. "Dad, can you hear me?"

"Tasha, have you found him?" Brenda asked.

Tasha nodded, then mentally facepalmed and said, "Yeah, he's in pretty bad shape. The Arc Reactor was almost dead. I put some power back into it."

"Good. The others are making their way to your location."

Tasha took a look at any other injuries Tony may have, and her breath left her lungs. "Bad, bad injuries," she reported. "Broken arm, broken leg, gash in his head... We're gonna need medics."

"Got it," Brenda said worriedly. "I'm letting the infirmary know to expect a bad case upon your return."

Tasha took a deep breath and gently eased her hands under Tony's knees and neck. He groaned as she lifted gently, and she froze, hissing, "Sorry, sorry!"

"Tash...?" Tony asked, voice ragged as his eyes opened a bit.

"Dad!" she whispered, unable to keep the happy tears out of her eyes. "'S alright- we're getting you out of here."

Tony smiled wearily and leaned over to spit out a wad of blood. Tasha wrinkled her nose and stiffened as footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Lori, Lena, and Stephanie sprinted down the corridor, feet pounding. Lori gasped as she saw Tony and slid into the cell, falling to her knees beside him.

Tasha gave her a moment to size up his injuries before impatiently saying, "How bad is he?"

Lori shot her a brief glare. "One moment. I'm trying to accurately identify any problems..."

Tasha gave her another moment. "Well?" she prompted.

Lori slowly turned to stare at Tasha with a cold green glare. "Give me TIME," she hissed. "I'll heal what I can, but his broken bones will need proper medical care- not just a magical medic."

"Is it safe to move him?" Stephanie asked, glancing nervously down the tunnel. "I think I hear people coming..."

"It'll have to do," Lori said tensely. "Brenda, heat map for this hallway."

"Right- um, you're gonna have company in about fifteen seconds," Brenda warned.

"Lena, take him- I'll need my blasters free," Tasha said anxiously, gently picking Tony up and carefully shifting him to Lena's open arms. "Please- be careful with him."

Lena nodded solemnly and Tasha turned to stare down the tunnel. "People are coming!" Brenda warned. "They're about to round the corner!"

Tasha powered up her blasters and set herself. "Then let them come," she hissed angrily- and fired.

Her first blast completely caught the terrorists off guard. Two fell to her anger before the other three wised up and laid down a hailstorm of bullets.

"Brenda, can we get some backup?" Stephanie shouted into the comm.

"Sending in Nathan and Claire," Brenda said.

Tasha led the way down the hallways, shooting guards as she saw them. "Brenda, I think we're lost," she said after a few turns.

"Next left," Brenda said tightly. "Hurry- I'm getting heat signatures from dead ahead."

Tasha sprinted forward and gestured for the others to follow her. Lena jostled Tony, and he groaned softly, making Tasha bite her lip.

"Take another right and you're in the clear. Quinjets are coming down right on top of your location," Brenda said.

"Getting a basket down, we can't land!" Nathan shouted into their headphones as they exited the cave, with the entrance surrounded by dead terrorists.

Lori kicked one over and looked at an arm patch. "Ten Rings," she said softly, with astonishment clear in her voice. "These guys are from Ten Rings."

"Well that explains a lot. Get moving. Brenda, why is the wind so bad?" Tasha complained.

"Ah- Sandstorm! Sandstorm, bearing down on your position, could be there in as few as two minutes. Get out of there or you'll be grounded with no way out!" Brenda shouted suddenly.

"Sandstorm. And just when it couldn't get any worse, Mother Nature decides to make us her playtoys," Claire muttered. "Two to a basket. Hurry!"

A basket dropped from one quinjet, and Tasha held it steady as Lena carefully loaded Tony in. She gently strapped him in and gave a hard tug on the rope. He slowly rose into the quinjet as Tasha watched worriedly.

The second quinjet lowered a basket and Lori and Lena were next. Lori helped make up for lost time by magicking the basket faster. They reached the quinjet and Thor pulled them both in quickly.

Stephanie was next, and Tasha hovered next to her as they slowly rose. "Hurry- you have about thirty seconds before the sandstorm is on you!" Brenda urged.

Tasha swore, got under the basket, and said, "Hang on tight." She shot upwards and shoved the super soldier into the quinjet. Stephanie rolled to a stop as Tasha slid the doors closed and the quinjets pulled away from the ground.

Lori watched out a window as howling winds swept across the camp. "That was far too close for comfort," she muttered.

"You're telling me," Tasha groused as she removed her helmet and turned to look worriedly at the other quinjet, with Tony and the medics. They were more prepared after Clint for the extensive level of damage done, but whatever Lori had done had healed up most of his external and some of his internal injuries.

Brenda sighed with relief. "Ok, so we're looking at Ten Rings, right?" she asked. "Let me check the schedule for anything that might affect them."

"Good. You're great, Brenda," Lori said affectionately.

"Stop it, you!" Brenda said, laughter in her voice. "I can't find anything that could affect Ten Rings directly. It's frustrating."

"Well, you tried," Stephanie said with a frustrated sigh. "Any clues on the next location?"

"Mr. Stark keeps muttering 'India, India'. Would that have any significance to any of the missing Avengers?" a young medic asked over the comm.

"India-"

"Calcutta, India. 'And what would you do if I refused' scene. Oh my goodness-!" Brenda said excitedly.

"Kay, we're gonna meet up with the Helicarrier, drop Tony off, pick you up. Suit up, big girl- we have a Hulk to save," Tasha said.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey again! Sorry for the long wait between chapters, and here's the reason why...

When I first published All Hallow's, there was a grand total of one chapter waiting to be completed. I was able to finish that and start on Midwinter's fairly quickly. Now, I have about twenty chapters or so written, but there's a catch: THEY AREN'T CONNECTED. There are huge gaps between chapters, where I have to write fillers. Know how good I am at writing fillers? Not great.

So yeah. I have a few more chapters before I really have to buckle down and write a huge bat- *Spoiler Blocker: Activated* ... DANGIT. I thought I disabled that.

Oh well. Enjoy this chapter! Lori scene's credit goes to Jazzy Pseudonym. And... don't hate me for the *Spoiler Blocker: Activated* GOSHDARNIT!

(0)^_^(0)

The quinjets set down gently on the deck of the helicarrier. Almost immediately Tasha slammed her metal fist into the "door open" button.

She was first onto the deck, with the others spilling out behind her. Tony was being wheeled out on a gurney, and she sprinted to his side, helmet in hand. "Dad," she whispered fiercely, falling into step beside him as the medics wheeled him across the deck. "I swear I'll kill those that did this to you."

She grabbed his hand tightly and squeezed, killing any tears before they could fall. The medics picked up their pace and she released her tight grip, slowing her pace to a standstill.

Brenda jogged onto the tarmac, making her way to Tasha's side. "Hey, you ok?" she asked worriedly.

Tasha smiled. It was a true Stark smile, full of confidence and bravado, all of it false and hidden well. "Fine!" she said. "Shall we go rescue Dad's Science Bro?"

Brenda laughed and made her way over to the quinjet, with Tasha following a bit behind.

(0)^_^(0)

Lori stood in the small room in the helicarrier outfitted with weapons and armory. Though she already wore her armor, Agent Coulson had discussed with her earlier about getting a melee weapon, just in case. Magic was far from reliable, and she hadn't had any lessons with Loki since her last time in the universe. They hadn't had time to really talk or practice yet. Though to be fair, some of her friends hadn't seen their dopplegangers at all.

Small knives and guns lined the walls. A few helmets and earpieces were stacked neatly on a bench. Lori surveyed the scene. Her hand brushed up against cold metal, and she jumped in fright. She pulled her hand back, taking a few steps away from it.

It was a small, silver, seemingly unthreatening gun while unloaded. But memories flashed behind her eyes. The cold barrel of her father's gun... a dark abandoned room... Lori ran out of the room.

No, she wouldn't be getting a gun.

And maybe Coulson was wrong, maybe she didn't need a melee weapon. She'd be fine without one. Magic could always get her out of a tight situation. Lori walked into the main center room, boarding the Quinjet with the other mini-Avengers.

"Hey, you okay, Lori?" Brenda asked, taking a seat. "You look really pale. Well- paler then usual." Loki shivered a little, and pulled a smile on her face.

"I feel fine," she lied smoothly, "Just a bit nervous about this whole... thing. Kidnapping... Being the heroes. It's a little overwhelming."

"I-I know what you mean," Brenda nodded quietly. "I... I just miss Bruce, you know?"

"We all miss our bigger halves," Lori said sympathetically. "But I'm sure we'll find them all soon..."

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda stared out the back of the plane sightlessly, watching the terrain roll under them. She could hear the others talking softly to each other, worry in their voices as they asked, "Is she alright?" "Was it truly wise to bring her?" "What if she..."

She sighed and shifted in her seat. "I can hear everything you're saying," she said tiredly.

They fell silent over her comms, before Claire said, "Sorry." They resumed their conversations, making sure to carefully steer around the sensitive topic of her and Bruce.

Bruce...

Father...

She sighed once again and closed her eyes, remembering his face. She missed him, talking with him, laughing with him... and Mini-Hulk desperately missed Big-Hulk as well.

Mini-Hulk rumbled deep within her as she thought of Big-Hulk. *Big me missing?" she asked, with a tinge of worry in her deep mind-voice.

*Big you is almost safe,* Brenda said soothingly. She was so glad that Mini-Hulk was back- even though she would never admit it.

*Ok,* Mini-Hulk said simply, and settled down to wait for Brenda to call her out.

Brenda looked up from her iPod as the quinjets landed on the ground. It was dark out- nighttime in Calcutta. She stood up and stored her iPod in her backpack, leaving it on her seat.

"Brenda, there are 8 houses that Bruce could be in," Nathan told her. He would be taking her place on the quinjets for her mission. She was already missing her comfortable chair and her Stark Tablet.

"Isn't it just the one he met Natasha in?" Brenda asked in confusion.

"Nope- that one was destroyed recently. Coulda been a Hulk incident, but someone passed the house off as a safety hazard," Nathan said derisively.

Brenda sighed. "Wonderful. Let's start checking houses," she said.

They split up and Brenda casually stuffed her hands into her pockets, wandering around like a tourist.

She popped a piece of gum in her mouth and chewed on it for a few seconds as she casually glanced into the window of one house.

"Nothing," she said, pretending to smack obnoxiously. "Not here-"

"Miss?" a soft voice whispered.

Brenda jumped and spun, looking around for the source of the sound. "Who's there?" she asked warily.

Movement caught her eye, and a dirty face peeked around the corner of the house. Wide, scared brown eyes locked with hers, and Brenda knelt to the child's level.

"Who you?" the girl whispered, long stringy brown hair falling behind her hair.

"I'm Brenda," Brenda said, slowly and clearly. "What's your name?"

"Siklali," the girl whispered. "You know Doctor?"

"Doctor who?" Brenda asked, then mentally facepalmed as Stephanie giggled into her headset.

"Brenda, who are you talking to?" Nathan asked suspiciously.

Brenda smiled reassuringly at the girl and said, "I found Natasha's little actress buddy."

Siklali nodded. "Fire-head lady nice," she whispered. "Doctor nice. Doctor here."

Brenda's heart leapt into her throat. "Here?" she whispered. "Can you show me where?"

The girl hesitated, and Brenda forced herself to wait patiently.

"Take me?" Siklali finally asked.

Brenda frowned. "Take you where?" she asked in confusion.

Siklali waved her hands around in frustration. "Away," she finally said. "Go in plane- high up."

Brenda let out a long, slow sigh. What was she going to say to the child?

"America?" she hesitantly said. The small girl's eyes grew wide.

"America!" she breathed softly, and nodded emphatically.

Brenda dearly hoped she wouldn't pay for this decision...


	11. Chapter 11

WHO HATES DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME?! ME!

Soooooo yeah. I hate daylight savings time- who wants to lose an hour?!

Oh well. In any event, it's SPRING BREAK. YUS.

And I have a snowboarding trip! Wish me luck and I hope I don't wipe out too much!

Enjoy your story and I'll update Sunday night (hopefully)!

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda dearly hoped she wouldn't pay for this decision.

"Yes," she said after a moment. "You can come on the plane and go up high in the sky."

Siklali's eyes shone brightly. "Yay!" she cried happily, and beckoned for Brenda to follow her.

Siklali moved quickly through the old, rugged buildings. She hid at the first sign of movement, even when Brenda assured her that it was only her friends.

Brenda caught up to the small child as she hid behind a tree. "So, why do you want to go?" she asked Siklali casually.

Siklali shrugged, beckoning Brenda forward as she darted ahead. "Maataa dead," she said. "Babba drink bad water."

Brenda frowned as she tried to translate it. "Maataa"? Maataa... mata... mama... mother. Her mother was dead.

Babba...

Brenda's eyes widened. "Father!" she exclaimed with sudden clarity. "Your father drinks... bad water?"

The young Hindi girl nodded. "Bad water." She wrinkled her nose. "Tastes funny. Makes head hurt."

Headache- hangover? So Siklali's mother was dead and her father drank.

"Family?" Brenda prompted. "Brothers? Sisters?"

Siklali frowned, turning to look at Brenda. She looked confused, and Brenda sighed. "Never mind."

Siklali shrugged and ran forward, peeking around a tree. "Hello there," a familiar female voice said cheerfully, and Siklali squeaked, drawing back hastily.

Brenda grinned at Lori as she came around the tree. "Hey, Lori," she said, catching up to the two. "Lori, this is Siklali. Siklali, this is my friend Lori." She pronounced the English words slowly, hoping she wouldn't have to call in a favor from Tasha and use Jarvis to translate her words.

Siklali frowned, twisting her lip slightly. Then her expression cleared. "Dost!" she cried happily. "Lori dost!"

Lori and Brenda exchanged glances. "Nathan, run a translation for me real fast?" Lori asked. "And put me in contact with Loki."

"On it," Nathan said quickly. "What do you need translated?"

"English for 'dost'," Lori said quickly.

There was a pause, before Nathan said, "'Dost' means friend. And Loki's connected to Lori's headset."

"Great," Lori said quickly. "Loki? Is there any way to instantly teach another person a language? Or perhaps allow them to understand another one?"

Brenda left the two mages to their talk as Siklali impatiently tapped her bare foot. "Come!" she said, and darted off to another tree.

Brenda smiled at the girl and followed close behind her, sliding behind a tree and looking around the trunk. There were several shepherds sitting around a fire, even though it was hot and humid outside.

"Not shepherds," Siklali whispered. "Have fire-sticks."

"Guns?" Brenda whispered in alarm. "They're guards..."

Siklali nodded solemnly. "Scary," she said, voice tiny. "Don't like I."

Brenda felt compassion well up in her heart. Poor little girl- no mother, a drunk father, and poor as dirt. No wonder she wanted to go to America...

Lori caught their attention as she carefully snuck over to the two girls. "Brenda, Loki knows a spell," she whispered urgently. "He taught it to me. It'll enable Siklali to understand English, and you to understand Hindi. Ready?"

Brenda hesitantly nodded. "I want to try to explain to Siklali, first," she said, and knelt to eye level with the girl.

"Lori can make us understand each other," she said slowly. "I speak English, I know Hindi. You speak Hindi, you know English."

Siklali shrugged. "Ok," she said simply. There was so much trust in the young girl's eyes that Brenda felt a bit bad.

"Cast it. Will it hurt?" she asked.

Lori hesitated. "No," she said after a moment. "Loki said it shouldn't. But he says we should retreat a bit, so the guards can't hear me cast it."

Brenda nodded and gestured for Siklali to follow the older girls.

They retreated to the inside of a cleared house and Lori frowned as she listened to her comm. "Alright," she said after a moment. "Brenda, want to go first?"

Brenda nodded. "I'll make sure it doesn't hurt," she told Siklali, who just looked confused.

Lori retrieved her staff and began whispering words as she closed her eyes. Brenda got the impression that she was speaking in Asgardian- if that was even a language- and chewed on her lip, waiting.

After a moment, Lori touched the staff to Brenda's head. A wellspring of knowledge poured into her head, and her eyes widened.

Lori pulled her staff back after a moment. "Did it work?" she asked anxiously.

Brenda nodded. "It did," she said. "I can't pronounce a darn thing, but I can understand it."

Lori giggled. "Alright, I'll repeat it with Siklali," she said, and restarted the chant.

Siklali waited patiently, knowing what would happen. Lori gently put the tip of the staff to her temple and she flinched slightly, but didn't pull away.

After a moment Siklali's eyes brightened. "Wow!" she chirped happily. "That is amazing!"

Brenda laughed, then noticed Lori's confusion. "She's speaking Hindi," Lori said. "I can't understand her."

Brenda smiled. "She said that this is amazing."

"Are we going to go get your father?" Siklali asked.

"Yes," Brenda said firmly. "We've waited long enough to rescue him." She hesitated as Siklali bounced to her feet.

"Then let's go!" the young girl said cheerily.

"Siklali. There's one thing I need to tell you," Brenda said, voice firm.

Siklali turned and frowned at her. "What is it?"

"When my father and I get very angry, we... change," she said slowly, hardly noticing Lori slipping out the front door.

"When my father drinks, he gets angry and throws things," the girl said with a shrug. "It happens."

A shiver ran down Brenda's spine at the casual dismissal of Siklali's father. "No," she said. "My dad and I... we turn into someone different."

Siklali frowned. "What do you mean?"

Brenda briefly closed her eyes. "We turn into different people. Big, green people," she said. "Not all people are like this- it's just me and him. But you need to know. If I get angry and change, you go and find one of my friends."

Siklali nodded solemnly. "I will," she said.

"Promise me," Brenda said.

"I promise."

Brenda stood up and smiled. "Then Nathan?"

"Yes?"

"Get the team together. I have a lead on Father."

"On it."


	12. Chapter 12

Hey! Terribly sorry for the long wait. Turns out Salida, CO doesn't have the best internet... But I'm safely home now which means- UPDATE!

And I wrote a bunch more for Midwinter's which is always good.

Not much else to say. I hope you enjoyed your spring break or if you didn't have a break I hope you're enjoying school!

... who am I kidding.

Oh well. Enjoy!

(0)^_^(0)

A few minutes later Nathan was moving people into position. "Claire, on the roof of the building to your right," he said briskly. "Brenda, Stephanie, you two take the front. Lena, Lori, you're on the back. Tasha's in the sky. The originals are backup just in case everything goes to heck in a handbasket."

Siklali was hiding behind Brenda, staring at the people fearfully. "Who are they?" she finally whispered.

"These are my friends," Brenda explained quickly. "I'm gonna send you back to keep Nathan company, and make sure you don't get hurt, ok?"

Siklali nodded silently. Brenda smiled reassuringly at her and led her to the quinjet, where Nathan was seated with a touchscreen.

"Nathan, can you look out for her for me?" she asked.

Nathan warily eyed the young girl, who was looking a bit scared. "Why?" he asked.

"I made a deal with her. She led me to Father, and I'll be taking her back to the States," Brenda said simply.

Nathan's eyebrows went straight up. "You're adopting her?" he asked incredulously. "Brenda, you're 18!"

"Either I will, or I'll ask Father to adopt her," she said with a shrug. "I don't go back on my promises."

"Of course you don't," Nathan muttered. "Because unlike most of us, you have morals!"

Brenda sighed. "Look- she can understand you, so just ask her to do something politely."

"How?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Lori. She asked Loki for a spell to let her understand English. I'll teach her to speak it when we get home."

Siklali reluctantly split off from Brenda and sat next to Nathan, looking at the screen he was using. "Bye," Brenda said with a small smile. "I'll see you soon."

Siklali waved as Brenda made her way back to where the others were, smiling cheerfully at them. "Ready to go?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"It's your dad," Stephanie said with a shrug. "I'm all set."

"Let's go."

Brenda took off at a sprint through the trees, hiding more and more frequently as she came closer to the building where Father- Bruce- was. She reached the final tree and put her back to the rough bark.

"How're we gonna do this?" she asked determinedly.

"Claire, shoot a knockout gas arrow into the middle of those shepherds. That should knock them out. Brenda, get up to the front of the house and try to change into Mini-Hulk. That should give us shock factor. Do your best to create a window for Claire to shoot into."

Brenda snorted. "I can try, but Mini has a mind of her own. She'll want Father safe first- I can guarantee that."

"Right. Note to self," Nathan muttered. "Tasha, I'm delegating the task of creating a window to you. Clear?"

"Crystal."

"Stephanie, you'll come in behind Mini, try to draw their attention away from Lori and Lena as they try to counter whatever they have to keep the Hulk from coming out."

"Got it."

"Lena, protect Lori while she does her thing. Remember, we're trying to be as quick about this as possible."

"Alright then. Everyone clear?"

"Yep," Brenda said quickly. "Claire- now."

An almost silent twang was the only thing that signified the rescue mission had begun. The arrow landed and started releasing an almost clear fog of knock-out gas. The men quickly succumbed, and Brenda impatiently waited for them to all be completely out before darting to the front door.

"I'm huddled against the front wall. Now I just have to get really angry-" Brenda cut off abruptly, peeking through the window.

"Brenda, are you still there?" Nathan asked.

Brenda fought down a growl. "Oh, yes," she said coldly. "They've got him strapped down to a metal table and he's probably as high as a kite to keep him from changing. I'm definitely mad now."

"Then change," Nathan urged her. "Go for it."

Stephanie lightly tapped her shoulder. "I'm right behind you," she said firmly. "If they have tranqs I'll get you out right away."

Brenda nodded and took a deep breath, focusing on her boiling anger in the pit of her stomach. "Mini?" she called in her mind. "Time to come out and play. I've found Father."

Mini shot forward and Brenda allowed herself to take a step back. She doubled in size in an instant and her skin turned a poisonous green. Miraculously, the untested suit of clothes Tasha had made her stretched to her new size- and fit.

Mini took a deep breath, smelling fear and sadness on the wind. She looked down at Star-Girl and said, with a slight curl of her lip, "Mini-Hulk smash!"

No further words were needed, as Mini turned around and ripped the front door right off its hinges.

Some guards who had been playing a game of cards came to their feet with alarmed shouts, scrambling to grab their guns. Mini roared as part of the ceiling and the right wall caved under a blast from Tasha. The door went flying and caught one man full in the chest, clipping another on the side of the head.

"Lori, Lena, go, go, go!" Mini heard the Spider-boy shout into her ear. The back wall of the house vanished in a poof of smoke, leaving rubble and two young ladies behind.

Mini roared loudly, slamming a fist into one of the enemy's faces. He fell without a sound, though his gun clattered loudly on the ground.

A jolt ran through Mini and she whirled, just in time to see Bruce snap into consciousness. "FATHER!" Brenda shrieked happily, though it came out as a happy roar from Mini.

He raised his head weakly as Mini released her hold on Brenda, allowing her through. Brenda shrunk back to her normal size and fell to her knees beside Bruce, quickly undoing the straps that bound him to the table.

"Father- can you hear me?!" Brenda asked, voice scared as she helped Bruce sit up.

He groaned softly, rubbing his forehead. "Yeah... Don't feel great- wait."

Brenda bit her lip expectantly, helping him stand up and hobble to the door frame.

"Brenda," he whispered suddenly, looking at her. "Brenda, you're here!"

Brenda bit back a sob and threw her arms around him tightly, crying tears of joy. "Yes," she choked out. "I'm here. God I missed you!"

Bruce hugged back tightly. He didn't seem to have words, but Brenda didn't need any. The slight dampness on her shoulder said volumes.

"As sweet as this is, Brenda, you need to get back to the quinjet-" Nathan said, only to be cut off by Claire screaming into the headset, "BREN GET DOWN!"

Brenda tried to flatten herself to the ground, but wasn't going to be fast enough, and Bruce knew it. He pulled her close and spun- and the flying bullet impacted his back.

Brenda shrieked as it impacted and pulled back, quickly looking at the point of impact. "Dad, talk to me," she said frantically. "Is the Hulk coming out?"

Bruce bent double, and Brenda dropped to kneel beside him, hand gently on his back. "He's-" the scientist started to gasp out.

"Angry?" Brenda suggested.

Bruce allowed himself a small smile, before he was suddenly transforming into the Hulk.

Mini Hulk sprinted to the forefront of Brenda's mind, and quite suddenly the kidnapping terrorists were facing two VERY angry green giants.

Hulk was breathing heavily as the bullet fell out of his back and to the ground with a soft *ting*. The terrorists stared at the two monsters in sudden fear.

Hulk grinned- and smashed.

Two fists pummeled two of the terrorists into the ground. Mini slammed one man into a wall and bent his pretty little gun into a tidy little knot. The other Young Avengers backed off as the two giants went to work taking out the trash.

The house shook as Hulk roared and swept one log-like arm across the ground. Floorboards ripped right out of the ground and flew across the room, catching one or two terrorists in the process.

Finally Mini smashed the final terrorist into the floor and turned to look at Hulk. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Mini hesitantly hugged the Hulk.

"Miss you," the smaller Hulk rumbled out.

The Hulk gently patted her back. "Miss you too," he said.

The two green giants started to shrink, and Brenda caught Bruce as he stumbled. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm tired," he said quickly. "I need to sleep for 24 hours and I'll be fine- I promise."

Thor ducked under a hanging beam and reached the two scientists. "How fare you, Doctor Banner?" he asked, sliding a hand under Bruce's arm and helping him walk out of the building as Brenda trailed behind.

"Not well," Bruce said, wincing as he made his way- barefoot- to the quinjets. "I'm just tired..." He never finished his sentence and slumped forward, asleep.

Thor laughed softly and picked the scientist up in a fireman's hold, breaking into a slow jog as he made his way back to the quinjets. A group of medics relieved the demi-god of his burden and carried Bruce Banner into one of the quinjets.

Stephanie met Brenda as she was getting onto the other quinjet, forehead creased in worry. "Is he alright?" she asked, voice nervous.

Brenda nodded and wiped away a few tears. "He's alive. The Hulk healed any injuries," she said, voice wobbling.

Stephanie pulled Brenda onto the quinjet and hugged her silently, rubbing her back gently. "You got him back," she said soothingly. "He won't have to leave your sight for... forever if you want to."

Brenda laughed. Stephanie's shoulder was slightly damp as she pulled away and smiled wetly at her friend. "Thank you."

Stephanie smiled as the quinjets lifted off the ground, before her gentle expression dropped. "Now what's this I hear about you adopting a Hindu girl?" she asked, eyebrows vanishing into her blonde wisps of bangs.

Siklali tugged at Brenda's hand. She looked cleaner, like someone had given her a towel to wipe off her face and hands. "Pick me up?" she requested softly, reaching both hands up to the short girl.

Brenda laughed and acquiesced, picking Siklali up. The Hindu girl's wide brown eyes stared Stephanie down, before she hid her face in Brenda's shoulder.

"I'm too young to have a kid, so I'm hoping Father will adopt her," Brenda said with a shrug.

Stephanie flinched at the first part of her sentence, before noticably forcing herself to nod. "Yeah, you're right. All of us are too young to raise a kid," she said, forcibly light.

Now it was Brenda's turn to raise her eyebrows.

"Hey, Brenda!" Nathan called from across the quinjet. "Can you come help me out? I got a cut on my arm."

Brenda shot a look at Stephanie that promised the conversation wasn't over before making her way over to Nathan. He was trying to wrap a bandage around his lower arm one-handed, and failing miserably.

"First of all, you haven't cleaned the wound properly," Brenda said, taking the gauze from him and setting Siklali down. To the little girl, she said, "I need a small brown bottle that's sitting over there on that seat. Go get it for me?"

Siklali nodded and ran to grab the bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide while Brenda examined the cut further.

"How did you even get hurt?" Brenda asked suspiciously. "I thought you were on the quinjet the whole time."

"I got bored," Nathan muttered, looking down at his hands. "I was tossing knives to keep your kid entertained and one caught my arm."

Brenda stifled a laugh. "And the dirt?"

"I tried to use the towel I gave Siklali to clean my arm without knowing it." He looked grumpy. Brenda sighed and shook her head as she looked at the cut.

It ran from about a third above his wrist to his elbow. It wasn't deep, but was full of dirt from him failing to clean it out properly. "Next time, wear long sleeves," Brenda ordered as Siklali returned, holding out the bottle of H2O2. The older girl took it.

"Thank you, Siklali. Brace yourself," she ordered Nathan, and poured some of the chemical onto his arm.

He immediately stiffened, biting onto his lower lip as the compound did its work. "That burns like fire!" he hissed angrily, fighting to keep his expression neutral.

"Try pouring that over a larger area than just your arm. Say, a skinned knee?" Brenda asked coolly. Nathan winced.

Siklali tugged on Brenda's pant leg as she wrapped the gauze into a roll and used a tissue to swab up the foam from the H2O2. "Yes, Siklali?" she asked absentmindedly.

Siklali looked slightly exasperated and climbed onto the seat beside Nathan. "Will he be ok?" the little girl whispered into Brenda's ear.

"He'll be fine," she said quickly. "He's just being a bit of a baby, crying over a little burn when I know he's had far worse."

Nathan slowly turned slightly red. "Hey!"

Brenda laughed and quickly wrapped his arm up. "You'll be fine in a bit," she said, then hesitated. "Hey, can I... ask a favor?"

Nathan looked at her and nodded.

"Claire is on the other quinjet, right?" she asked cautiously. Nathan and Claire were still at each other's throats fairly often.

"Yeah..." he asked hesitantly.

"Then can you ask her how Father is doing?"

Nathan nodded. "Sure. Where's your comm?"

"It got destroyed," Brenda said quietly.

He grinned. "Sure. Go look after whoever else you need to."

Brenda smiled quickly and made her way over to Lena.

Nathan flipped his comm on and said, "Claire?"

There was silence for a moment, before Claire asked, "Yes, Nathan?"

"How's Bruce doing? Brenda wants to know."

"One sec." Claire shouted something to someone and quickly said, "Tell Brenda that Bruce is alright. His injuries are healing really fast and he should be perfectly healthy when he wakes up."

Nathan relayed the information to Brenda, who mouthed "Thank you!" to him as she passed. "She says thank you," he told Claire.

"Don't worry about it. Any major injuries?" she asked.

"Steph's fine, Tasha's armor is beat up, Lena's a bit cut up, but she'll be fine, Lori herself is alright, I had a minor cut. No broken bones or sprains. You?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern."

Nathan looked around briefly. No one was close enough to hear, so he murmured, "Is anyone else on?"

Silence.

"Ok. Are you ok, sweetie?" he asked Claire quietly.

"I'm fine, love. You're ok too?" she whispered.

"Yes. I'll see you soon," he murmured and flipped the comm off, sitting back with a sigh.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey guys! Your reviews made me crack up. Good guesses but I won't be revealing any answers until MUCH later in the story.

Not much else to say... Enjoy your weekend! And this chapter.

(0)^_^(0)

They landed back on the Helicarrier and Bruce was immediately rushed to the infirmary. Tony was only just regaining consciousness as Tasha followed the medics and the stretcher to the hospital wing.

"Dad?" she asked cautiously as she stepped inside his private room. "Are you awake?"

"Tasha- you're really back? It wasn't just a hallucination?" Tony asked, voice tired.

Tasha walked the rest of the way in and slowly sat down on the chair, grasping Tony's wrist for a brief second before releasing. "Yeah. We're all here. What happened?"

Tony was silent for a moment; Tasha thought he had fallen back asleep before he suddenly said, "Sorry. Uh... I think we were having a movie night. Pepper was on another floor. I asked Jarvis for something and he didn't respond... I think whoever it was gassed us. I don't remember anything else beyond that point. Have you recovered anyone else?"

"We just got back from getting Bruce. We recovered Thor first, then Natasha and Clint. You were fourth. I'm really suspicious, though. Everything about this is super convenient."

"Why?" Tony asked curiously.

"I don't know if you remember or not, but you were whispering 'India' over and over again. Calcutta was where Bruce was being hidden. Thor tipped us off to Natasha and Clint's location. Natasha gave us your hiding place. I reaaaaally don't like the convenience of this whole thing."

Tony frowned. "Neither do I. Has Bruce said anything?"

"He hasn't woken up yet," Tasha said. "How're you feeling?"

"Like a semi ran me over," he said. "But better than I was wherever I was. Uh... where was I?"

"You don't want to know."

Silence.

"S***. Ten Rings, wasn't it?"

"Um."

He sighed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"Can you sit up?" Tasha asked.

"I think so." He moved his arms and shoved them into the mattress. Tasha reached out and supported his back as he sat up slowly.

"Yay!" Tasha said happily, applauding sarcastically.

Tony glowered at her, but couldn't stay mad long and laughed, shaking his head. "Who else is out of commission?"

"Bruce got beat up pretty bad. Clint was hurt fairly badly... actually, everyone we've rescued so far was pretty bad. I don't think anyone was worse than another."

"Great. So who are we missing... Capsicle?"

"Don't let Stephanie hear you say that. She's been really touchy recently. But yes, we're just missing Steve."

Tony sighed and grabbed a glass of clear liquid, taking a sip and sputtering. "Not vodka," he said grumpily. "Just water."

"I don't think you should be drinking with your current condition," Tasha said dryly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Tony drained the glass, made a face, and then asked, "But why did they take us?"

"I don't know. But I have a feeling it's important."

(0)^_^(0)

Stephanie gingerly sat down on her bed, carefully rubbing her side. She had put something out of whack when she rolled to avoid a bullet, and the strained muscle wasn't healed yet.

Her uniform required repairs yet again. Stephanie sighed and pulled out a needle and some matching thread, threading the needle with a practiced hand. Finally, her mother's sewing lessons were worth something.

She carefully wove the tail of the thread in with the stitches and slowly stitched up the gash, making sure to go over each stitch individually. She didn't want them snapping in the middle of a fight, leaving her side exposed.

As she sewed, she thought of the massive amounts of injuries sustained by the recovered and recovering Avengers. It seemed to slowly have gotten worse with each Avenger, though the amount of time in captivity could have contributed to the injuries, or lack thereof.

What really worried her was how Steve would be when they rescued him.

It was simple, really. Thor had been only minorly beat up. Natasha really didn't count, because the Widow was a woman and whoever had caught the Avengers evidently didn't believing in hurting women. No, they had mentally tortured her by hurting Clint when she was unable to do anything. He had taken massive amounts of pain and wounds, probably enough for both of them.

Tony had a grudge with his captors, and they wanted revenge very badly, contributing to the many gashes and broken bones Lori had had to heal. Bruce had taken longer to retrieve than the others, but had probably the least amount of damage. His captors were obviously afraid of unleashing the Hulk- a very real threat. Besides, the Hulk healed any and all injuries. The sedative they had doped him up on had kept Bruce from escaping, however.

Simply by following the pattern, Stephanie could deduce that Steve- wherever he was- was probably in a world of hurt.

She shuddered and almost pricked herself with the needle. She checked the stitches one last time and tied the thread off with the ease of long practice, trimming the loose ends before she held her uniform out in front of her and shook it.

"Looks great!" a voice said from the airvent.

Stephanie yelped and spun as Claire kicked the screen off the cover, sliding into her room easily. "You sew? Didn't know that," she commented.

"Yeah. Sometimes," Stephanie said with a shrug. She laid her uniform on the bed and turned to Claire, steeling herself as she said, "Look, I'm really sorry for my outburst-"

"Save it," Claire said firmly. "You've been having a rough time lately. It's just a lot for you to take in. It was perfectly understandable. And that's actually what I came to talk to you about."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow and moved to the bathroom, tugging her blonde hair out of her braid. "Do tell."

"I... had a talk with Nathan. And while we aren't as close as we used to be, we've decided to at least be civil to each other," Claire said. She sat down on Stephanie's bed and examined her outfit a bit more.

"Really? That's... good to know. What brought this on?" Stephanie asked as she brushed her hair out, pulling out flakes of ash and bits of sand from their earlier recoveries.

"Your... talk. It made us both realize that though we may not be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore, at least we can be comrades." Claire shrugged and held up Stephanie's uniform. "You missed a spot, by the way." She stuck her finger through a small burn hole.

"Thanks, and that's great. Thank you. For the team, and my sanity," Stephanie said with a laugh, splitting her hair into three sections and beginning to rebraid it. "Thanks for telling me personally."

"No problem!" Claire said with a grin. "I'll be going now."

"Oh- have we gotten anything from Bruce yet?" Stephanie asked, looking at the mirror as Claire got ready to go back through the air vent.

"No. He hasn't woken up yet," she said, with a sad glance at Stephanie. "I'll let you know as soon as he does."

"Thank you," Stephanie said, with a sad smile, as she tied her hair back more firmly and sighed. Claire left the way she came and replaced the air vent cover, much to Stephanie's relief.

Stephanie walked over to her bed and pulled out her duffle bag. Sitting on top was the picture of all the Avengers and Young Avengers together. She picked up the picture and stared at it for a long while, drawing her legs up to her chest with a heavy sigh.

"Where are you?" she whispered hopelessly to the picture of Steve. But of course, he couldn't respond, and she was left alone, in an empty room, holding a picture of her family.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys!

Just wondering if anyone here reads Pagen Godess' PokeVengers fanfiction. I got hooked on Feriowind's drawing myself and am looking into getting permission to post some of my own fan fiction of it. Would anyone be interested in that?

Otherwise, enjoy the chapter- I need to go write more... badly...

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda sat down at the computer with a sigh, cracking her knuckles as she readied herself for some serious typing. Tasha came in and sat down. Both girls were dressed in graphic t-shirts and jeans. Tasha's had a picture of a campfire with a marshmallow roasting over it, with large letters saying "BURN" across the top. Brenda's had a picture of a white tiger made of words.

"Need any help?" Tasha asked.

"Yep. I need your computer expertise to help me figure out what exactly the Ten Rings want with the Avengers- WHY they would kidnap them and not send a ransom note."

Tasha pulled over a laptop and sat cross legged on a counter, placing the laptop in her lap. "Give me a minute," she said. "Can you send me the schedule for the UN meeting again?"

"Sure," Brenda said, and swiped a tab onto Tasha's screen. She pulled it up and said, "So this is scheduled for when again?"

"Two days from now, I think," Brenda said. She pulled something up and typed some words into a search bar and hit enter. A red line immediately began scanning the agenda for her keywords.

"What are you looking up?" Tasha asked, leaning over to see.

"Searching for 'Iran'. If that doesn't work, I'll try 'Afghanistan', then 'Ten Rings', then... I don't know."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Brenda sighed. "Nothing for Iran. I'll try Afghanistan now."

They only sat in silence for a few more minutes before the screen lit up green. "Match!" Brenda exclaimed, shoving the article over to Tasha's screen. "And look at what it's about-"

"-limiting the amount of missiles in Afghanistan... that would fit!" Tasha hissed as she highlighted the document and sent it to everyone's phones.

"Ten Rings would definitely not be pleased with this. Don't think a piece of paper would stop them, though," Brenda muttered.

"Well, it's not just that."

Brenda looked over the top of her computer.

"They're going to enforce the ban, by sending UN troops into Afghanistan to disassemble excess missiles."

Her eyes widened, and Brenda straightened up. "No wonder!" she gasped. "Americans would go downright insane if someone tried to come in and take away our way of defense!"

Tasha nodded as the door to the room of the conference room opened and a small figure slipped in. Siklali was dressed in one of Bruce's shirts that Stephanie had offered to take in for her until the child could get some proper clothes from New York. It fit her well and Siklali was pleased with the blue dress. Shoes were another matter.

Siklali tiptoed over to Brenda's arm and tugged on her shirt hem. Brenda started and turned to look at her.

"You left this in your room," the young Hindi girl said solemnly, placing Brenda's comm in her hand. "It's been making odd noises and when I held it up to my ear a lady told me that your daddy is awake."

Brenda bolted to her feet, slamming her laptop closed. "Father is awake," she told Tasha quickly as the other girl looked at her curiously. "I've gotta go."

Tasha's expression changed to that of compassion. "Go on," she urged Brenda. "Go say hello."

Brenda sighed in relief and took off at a sprint.

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda bolted down the corridor, taking a few sharp turns as she ran. Her breath came in heavy pants as she sprinted past agents, doing her best to not create any messes.

She skidded to a halt at the door to the infirmary, taking a deep breath and smoothing her ruffled hair, before she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Brenda Banner. I just heard my father is awake...?" she asked a young nurse.

The woman smiled kindly. "He is. He's in that room right there-" and she pointed to a room adjacent to Tony Stark's.

Brenda smiled thankfully and nodded to the woman, who returned the nod and went off to attend to another sick agent.

The young woman shoved the door open and a grin spread across her face. "Father!" she said happily, bouncing over and dropping down into a seat beside Bruce Banner's bedside.

Bruce was sitting upright, working on something on a tablet, but he looked up and smiled at Brenda. "Brenda! How are you?" he asked warmly, turning the tablet off and reaching out to hug her.

Brenda held back tears and fisted her hands behind his back. "'M fine," she said, voice wobbling. "I'm more worried about you."

Bruce laughed, drawing back from the hug. "I'm perfectly healthy," he said with a casual wave of his hand. "I'm honestly not even sure why I'm still here."

She laughed. "Have you asked them to let you out?"

He nodded. "They keep saying they just want to make sure there isn't any psychological damage," he said, voice disgruntled. "I'd think I'd know if I wasn't psychologically fit."

She laughed again and asked, "Did they do the whole ream of tests- you know, what day is your birthday, what's today's date, what's your name..."

Bruce nodded. "I had problems with today's date, actually. Wasn't quite sure how long I had been unconscious."

"It's-

"December 22," Bruce said with a weary sigh. "The doctor told me."

"Three days 'til Christmas!" Brenda said, with a sweet child-like enthusiasm.

Bruce smiled affectionately and kicked his feet out of the bed to land on the floor. Brenda hastily rose and assisted him for a moment, making sure he wasn't going to fall before releasing her tight grip on his shoulder.

The door opened and a doctor bustled in, flipping through charts. "Bruce Banner, you're cleared to leave the infirmary," the man said absently, already looking at something else in his stack of papers.

"Great- thanks," Bruce said quickly, grabbing his jacket off the back of Brenda's chair.

They quickly vacated the infirmary and made their way towards the corridor with rooms only for the Avengers and Young Avengers. Bruce's room was right across from Brenda's- and Siklali's.

"So..." Brenda said, dragging the word out. "We picked up another person while we were in Calcutta."

Bruce glanced at her briefly, a frown on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked warily.

"I mean-" Brenda started to say, but was cut off by Siklali ramming into her midsection.

"Brenda! I went looking for you and then I got lost and I got scared and no one else can understand me and-" Siklali wailed unhappily, seemingly not noticing- or caring- about Bruce.

"Calm down, Siklali," Brenda said soothingly, kneeling to see eye to eye with the girl. "I'll teach you English as soon as I can. We have to find one more person before I can teach you, though."

Bruce's eyes sparked with concern. "Who are we missing?" he asked worriedly.

"Captain Rogers," Brenda said with a sigh. "Stephanie's been really scared for him- even if she hides it."

Bruce nodded solemnly as Brenda stood up and picked Siklali up as well. Upon seeing Bruce, she hid her face in Brenda's shoulder silently.

"And, uh- who's this?" Bruce asked, gesturing to Siklali. "And is that one of my shirts?"

"Bruce, this is Siklali. Siklali, this is my father, Bruce," Brenda said. "And yes, that is one of your shirts, Father."

He smiled a bit and laughed, shaking his head. "I can see that. Good thing I don't really care for that particular shirt."

Brenda smiled and nodded. "Stephanie knows how to sew, so she offered to take it in for Siklali. She did a good job, didn't she?" she asked Siklali.

Siklali nodded emphatically.

"How does she know what you're saying?" Bruce asked suspiciously, frowning in thought.

"Lori cast a spell that enabled me to understand Hindu and Siklali to understand English," Brenda said with a shrug. "It'll do until I can properly teach her English."

"Why is she even here?"

Brenda sighed and covered Siklali's ear. "Her father drinks and her mother is dead," she said softly. "She wanted to come to America in exchange for information on where you were."

"So you took the offer?" Bruce asked unbelievingly.

Brenda nodded. "Besides, she's very sweet and doesn't get in the way. Lori helped a lot with the spells. I plan to drop her off at Stark Tower with Pepper and Jane- Thor's sweetheart."

Bruce seemed to think the plan over, before he looked at her, eyes serious. "You know you're too young to adopt her, right?"

Brenda sighed and nodded. "I'll figure something out," she said. "I was hoping you would adopt her..."

His eyebrows shot up. "I don't think that's the best idea," he said cautiously.

Brenda matched his gaze with her own deep brown gaze, refusing to back down. "You basically adopted me," she pointed out.

"That's different- you're a teenager, not a small child," Bruce said exasperatedly.

"It isn't that much different," Brenda said, as she started walking down the corridor, forcing Bruce to catch up to her. "I really was innocent as a child the last time I was here."

"And you aren't anymore?" Bruce asked sharply.

She didn't answer.

He seemed to realize that he wouldn't get much more out of her and instead moved on to other topics. "So we're missing Rogers?"

Brenda nodded. "Yeah. She's... not taking it well..." No names were needed.

"Well, I think I can help with that," he said quietly.

She stopped abruptly and whirled, eyes wide. "No way," she breathed. "You too?!"

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"We found Thor first. He gave us the location of Natasha and Clint. They, in turn, gave us coords to where Tony was. He told us- inadvertently- where you were. And now-"

"Rogers is in Italy," Bruce said solemnly. "My captors were talking about sending some men to help guard him."

Brenda gasped and reached up to her comm. "Tasha!" she said quickly. "I need all the info on Captain Rogers' missions in Italy. Send it out to everyone's phones and get statuses on the recovering Avengers. We have a Captain to rescue."


	15. Chapter 15

Hey guys! This is a very long chapter- almost 3000 words. Don't expect another update for several days while I recuperate from the effort put into this chapter.

Also- Who's doing Camp NaNoWriMo for the month of April? I am! Add me as a friend- my name is Fyrelass.

Enjoy the chapter!

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Nathan sprinted down the corridor, hand pressed to his ear as Tasha spoke. "Check on Natasha. She can get Clint. I've got Brenda on her way to Stephanie's room. Lori and Lena- I'm trying to get through to them, but I may have to activate the emergency channel to reach them."

"Got it," Nathan said, slightly breathless as his feet pounded the ground. He easily slid around a female agent and nodded as she smiled briefly at him. He was taken- not that anyone would know.

The corridor of the Avenger's rooms came into view and Nathan allowed his pace to slow. He stopped at the door to his room and did a 180 turn, reaching out a hand to pound on the door-

-Only for the door to open and his fist to almost slam into Natasha Romanoff's face.

Nathan jerked his hand back as Natasha dodged, almost ready to take him down. "Sorry!" he burst out. Both hands came up in a defensive position, before Natasha sighed and shoved his hands down.

"What is it?" she asked, voice slightly annoyed.

"Dr. Banner had the place that Captain Rogers is being hidden- Italy. Tasha said Clint's run away from the infirmary and he is currently with Claire in the shooting range on Floor 7. Can you go grab them?" he asked- all in one breath.

Natasha's eyebrows rose. "Sum it up- slower, this time," she ordered.

Nathan took a deep breath and said, "Bruce knows the location that Steve is being hidden. Tasha says that Clint left the infirmary and would like you to go find him- something about the 7th floor shooting range...?"

Natasha drew herself up straighter. "Got it." She reached up to her ear and flipped her comm on, twiddling a small dial to change channels from the main SHIELD channel to the Avenger's private wavelength. "Tasha? I'm on it."

"Great!" Tasha said cheerfully, voice echoing through their ears. "I finally got hold of Lori. She's on her way to find Stephanie."

"She's not in her room?" Nathan asked.

"No. She's destroying punching bags- again." Her voice sounded exasperated, but there were worried undertones.

"Got it." Nathan nodded to Natasha. "I'm gonna get my uniform on," he said quickly, unlocking his room and stepping inside. "See you in a bit."

Natasha nodded and took off for the shooting range as Nathan closed the door.

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Stephanie took a deep breath and put her head in her hands, elbows on her knees. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins already, and her super soldier instincts were on high alert.

"How far out are we?" Tasha asked through the comm.

"We're about 10 minutes out," Clint said into the communicators. "Stephanie, we're gonna drop you about half a mile away from the compound. It's your job to get in and find Rogers."

Stephanie nodded resolutely and stretched. She accidentally released her hidden blade, and it slid out of its sheath into her hand without a sound. With a small start, she returned it to its hiding place and held her wrist rigid.

After another seven or so uncomfortably silent moments, Clint spoke up. "You're up, Stephanie."

She took a deep breath and stood up. Lori briefly grasped her hand as she reached for her shield, and a small tingle ran up her hand. Magic- Stephanie recognized the feeling. Probably a small spell to make sure her shield always returned to her hand when she threw it, or some other small assistance.

She pulled the parachute on and clipped her dad's shield onto her belt. Her eyes connected with everyone in the cabin, before she nodded once and pulled her mask up.

Stephanie turned, and sprinted off the open back of the quinjet.

The air embraced her as she fell, cradling her in cold fingers. For a moment she enjoyed the freefall, before extending her arm as Dad had done before and shooting off like a rocket towards where he was.

*I'm coming, Dad!*

Far too early, the green treetops came into view, and Stephanie pulled the cord on her parachute. It billowed out behind her, and she sighed unhappily with the loss of momentum.

"You need to bank left. You're coming down too close to the compound," Brenda warned her.

"Got it," she said, and twitched the lines of the parachute to go left. The parachute obeyed and she watched the treetops come closer and closer...

"Release now!" Natasha suddenly ordered, and Stephanie obeyed without thinking, yanking hard on the 'release' cord for the parachute. It unclipped and she freefell again, eyes narrowing as she focused on a sturdy branch.

"Recommended course of action is to land on the ground," Brenda said, voice slightly concerned.

Stephanie allowed a small smile to cross her face.

"Not today, Bren."

"What-"

She caught the branch with both arms. Of course, her momentum made it so she couldn't hold on, but that was alright- another, sturdier branch was waiting below to catch her.

"Steph, what the heck are you doing?" Lori asked tensely. "Your comm says you're 26 feet off the ground."

"Really?" she asked lightly. "I had no-"

Stephanie launched off the branch and gripped another branch tightly. "-idea," she finished, kicking her feet and landing on the branch. Dad's shield went on her back, and she carefully secured her own right next to his, before she was off like a monkey.

Over one branch, using another few as monkey bars- Stephanie shot across the thick forest, winding her way towards the enemy compound with great ease. "How the he** did you learn this?" Tasha asked, sounding amused as Stephanie used her momentum to swing fully around a tree branch, launching off it and catching another one ten feet away.

"Parkour-" she said, hugging a tree as she jumped from one branch to another on the other side of the trunk. "- and more than a little Assassin's Creed-!"

After a 15 foot freefall that made Brenda shriek into her comm, Stephanie clambered up a tree and sat in the crown. "I can see the compound," she said, slightly winded. "Did I get set down a bit far away, or was that me?"

"Yeah, you overshot by about a quarter of a mile," Nathan said. "I think."

"Sorry," Clint said unapologetically.

Stephanie laughed breathlessly and leaned against the trunk, taking a deep breath. "'S ok," she said after a moment, pulling her binoculars out of a small pouch. "Activate the video feed, Brenda."

She held the high-tech binoculars up to her eyes and saw a small green square, blinking in the upper right hand corner. "Streaming," Brenda said. "It works."

"Of course it does!" Tony said, sounding very insulted. "I built it!"

Stephanie laughed as she scanned the compound.

There were two layers of fence, the inner of chain link and the other of stone, with razor wire running around the top. Guard towers were in all four corners, and on the two longer sides of the rectangular base. She could see at least three major buildings, and a few smaller ones.

"This is not a small operation," Lori observed quietly. "Too big for just keeping Captain Rogers from escaping..."

Stephanie bit her lip and focused in on one building with no windows. Something about the building made alarm bells ring in her head. She couldn't pinpoint what it was, though...

"Tony, I don't like that place," she said warily. "It's off."

"I can see that, though I don't understand why you're saying it's... 'off'," Tony said.

She waited for a few minutes patiently while Tony did something with the tech in the compound. "You should be clear to go in," he said after a few moments.

Stephanie turned her binoculars off and slid them into her pouch, pulling her shield off her back and sliding it onto her arm. "I'm going in," she said determinedly and started dropping through the branches.

She watched the guards as they walked around and around their towers, not bothering to look over their shoulders. One deep breath in, hold it, out- and run.

She took off, using her super soldier serum to maximum effect. He was halfway around the tower, and she had only a few more seconds to reach the wall-

Stephanie flung her hands out and flattened herself to the wall as the guard came full circle and surveyed the area she had just covered. She held her breath while he continued walking.

"He didn't see me," she breathed softly. "We're good."

Her heart was hammering as Stephanie sidled along the wall, pressing her back to the cold stones. She was not looking forward to hopping the fence- where there would be nothing to hide behind. If she could only get to the building with no windows and make a sprint for it...

"You're halfway to that building you were talking about," Brenda said. "We've landed and the others are moving in."

"Great," she whispered, swallowing nervously and sprinting another few feet before she was forced to hide again. "How far?"

"Twenty feet left," Brenda said.

Stephanie slid around the corner and flat out ran until Brenda frantically told her to stop. She took a deep breath and looked at the towers, trying to see if the guards were synchronized.

After a few moments, she concluded one was slightly slower than the other. They kept falling in and out of sync, circling their towers in a monotonous rhythm which was enough to put anyone to sleep.

"'Kay, be ready," she said tensely. "I'm gonna go in 3... 2..."

With no more warning she vaulted over the wall and sprinted for the chain link fence. With a running start it was easy to clear, and Stephanie rolled as she landed on the other side to avoid hurting herself.

"They're coming around!" Brenda hissed worriedly. "Hurry!"

Stephanie put on the speed and skidded into a small area between two of the buildings. She crouched to avoid anyone looking out a window and seeing her as she took a few gulps of fresh air.

"How're you gonna get into the building?" Brenda asked.

Stephanie thought for a moment. "Can you get layouts of the building?" she asked.

Brenda was quiet for a moment. "Let me look," she said. "I hope they're on file in some server..."

"Me too-" Stephanie started to say, before she scrunched further back into her corner.

Voices. Coming her way.

She swallowed and looked around for an exit. None- there were walls on two sides and open space on the others. The ground was solid, and there was only one option left...

Two guards and a dog entered the small corridor a minute later. The dog seemed to pick up on something as he sniffed at a corner of one building, but the guard controlling the leash thought nothing of it and dragged the dog along.

Ten feet above them, one foot and hand on either building, Stephanie allowed herself a small sigh of relief. "Brenda, how're the plans coming along?" she asked tensely.

"Not good," the other girl answered tensely. "This place is pretty old. I don't think they have the blueprints on the computer."

Stephanie sighed. "Wonderful. So I'm winging it?"

"Yep," Brenda said. "I don't like it."

The super soldier slowly began crab-walking up the walls as she said, "I don't like it either, Bren, but I don't have any choice. Put me back in contact with the others?"

"You turned them off?" Brenda asked, surprised.

Stephanie smiled bitterly. "Yep. They were being Chatty Cathys," she said sarcastically. "I couldn't take it."

Brenda hummed something sympathetically and Stephanie's radio chatter picked up dramatically. "Hey, guys," she said quietly, quelling the voices quickly. "I'm heading to the roof to try and break in via-"

"Air vent," at least four other voices chorused with her.

"How very assassin-like of you!" Clint said dryly.

"Don't mess with the classics," Stephanie murmured. "I'm trying to crab-walk my way up between two buildings... remind me to get a grappling hook next time..."

Tony snorted with amusement. "Will do," he said. "You'll have to do without for now."

"No duh, Sherlock," she said.

"It's funnier when it's 'No s***, Sherlock," Tasha complained. "You spoiled it."

"I try not to swear," Stephanie said stiffly. "Swearing is for those who have small vocabularies and no imagination."

Dead silence filled the comms for a moment, before Claire choked out, "Oh, BURN!"

She allowed herself a tight smile and hauled herself onto the roof of the building. "I'm on top-" she said, before facepalming as Tasha sang, "That's what she said!"

"Tasha?"

"Hm?"

"Grow up."

Stephanie made her way over to a vent and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head on them. "Gotta... take a break," she said. "'M a bit tired."

"Tired?" Bruce asked sharply. "You shouldn't be. You've got the serum."

She laughed tiredly and straightened. "I've been moving constantly for at least thirty minutes. I haven't had the serum in my veins for two years," she said as an excuse.

Her stomach ached and she slid a hand between her knees and her body, pressing it flat against herself. The cold felt good against her stomach and she let out a small sigh.

"You need to get moving," Brenda urged, and Stephanie stood up with a sigh. "On it," she said wearily.

"I'd recommend a medical exam when we get back to the Helicarrier," Bruce said as she examined the unit she had been leaning against.

Stephanie concealed the rising panic in her throat. "Ok," she said nonchalantly, keeping her voice even. "I'll remember."

With a few 'gentle' nudges, the air vent system shifted out of the way and Stephanie was peering into the dark depths of the air vents. "If I loose signal, it's because I'm in the vents," she warned, before sliding into the small shaft.

"Good luck," Brenda murmured, and Stephanie dropped into the opening.

She slid through the small vents and paused at a corner. "Hear that?" she asked the comm, but static consumed the waves.

"Guess not," she muttered. She was on her own.

Not that it was she hadn't been alone before... and still was...

An air vent cover was up ahead and Stephanie turned her body around. Her face was close to the slits as she looked down into a sterile white corridor, with two guards walking back and forth directly in front of one door with a heavy lock.

"If you can hear me, I've found it," Stephanie whispered. "I think."

She frowned and stared at the door. Now the question was how to get inside...

A slight crackling in her ear alerted her to the comm. "...hear...?" Brenda's soft voice said.

"Can barely hear you," Stephanie breathed softly.

"... guards... distract," she heard after a moment.

"With what?" she asked impatiently.

She had to wait for a response, but Brenda finally spoke. "Belt...?"

Stephanie checked her belt pouches and found few small cherry bombs. She just stared at them for a moment, before she sighed and pulled one out.

"Be ready," she ordered.

Her blue eyes followed the guards carefully as they patrolled up and down the corridor. She had a narrow window of opportunity to throw the cherry bomb...

Now!

Stephanie pulled the pin, shoved the vent cover up and whipped the bomb at one end of the hall. It made a few soft sounds, attracting the guards' attention, and one went over to investigate.

BOOM.

The cherry bomb exploded, knocking the guard back on his butt. He coughed and waved one hand frantically in front of his face as the second guard ran to where his buddy was. Stephanie shoved out of the vent and sprinted to the door, examining the lock quickly and throwing her boot into the door.

"I'm in," she hissed as the door started to give way. "Two guards about to see me-"

"Hey! You! Stop!"

She murmured a few words and spun, throwing her shield as fast as she could. It rebounded off the walls and took both men out, before flying back to her hand.

She caught it and quickly walked to one guard's side, rifling through his pockets and quickly finding a pass card and a key. She slid the pass card into her pocket and sprinted back to the door, sliding the key into the lock and forcing it open.

"DAD!" her voice echoed through the concrete prison.

She sprinted into the room. Her dad was passed out on a bed, wearing a sweat shirt and sweat pants. The room was cold, and a single blanket kept him warm.

Distantly, Stephanie noticed that she was shaking as she fell to her knees beside her father- Captain America.

"Dad, are you ok?" she asked, shaking his shoulder with trembling hands. "Dad, wake up."


	16. Chapter 16

I believe that I've tortured you enough with your wait. :) The continuation to last chapter's cliffhanger! Enjoy!

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There was silence, and Stephanie had never felt so truly alone as she did in that moment. She rested her head on her hands, trying to hold back tears as static echoed through her comm.

Then something shifted.

Steve shifted under her hands and groaned softly. Stephanie bolted upright and grabbed his hand.

"Dad?" she asked uncertainly.

He reached his free hand up to his head and rubbed his forehead. She swallowed anxiously and squeezed his hand silently.

"Ah... water?" Steve said finally.

"One sec," she said, and hastily scanned the room as her comm crackled.

"Finally got reception- what's your status?" Brenda asked quickly.

"I've got Dad- he's not doing great. The serum helped, I think- but I'm gonna need help getting him out."

"On it- triangulating her location now," she called to someone else in the background.

Stephanie took a deep breath and returned to Steve's bedside. "I'm sorry- there isn't any water," she said, voice shaking dreadfully. "Do you- do you remember me?"

Steve turned his head to look at her through half-closed blue eyes. He seemed to be struggling, and Stephanie felt another surge of fear.

"You're familiar, but..." He frowned, struggling for words. "I... I can't..."

Her heart plummeted. "It's ok," she lied, standing up. "I'm gonna go guard the corridor, ok?"

He nodded, and she quickly made her way to the open door. Once she was safely in the hallway, she pressed one hand to her comm.

"He doesn't remember me!" Stephanie wailed softly, covering her eyes with one hand. "I- I- I don't-"

"Hey, hey, shhhh. Calm down," Lori said soothingly.

Stephanie swallowed her tears and crossed both arms over her stomach, trying to calm herself. "What if they wiped his memory-" she paused to take a gulp of air- "and he never remembers me?"

There was a very uncomfortable silence while Brenda tapped away on her keyboard and Stephanie held in sobs. "Got it," Bren said finally. "Moving in."

She tuned out battle formations, only paying enough attention to know she was in charge of getting Steve out of the compound- probably with someone's help. The comm waves were a babble of words, and Stephanie set her end of the comm on mute, pressing her back to the wall and allowing herself to slide down to the floor.

"Getting into positions," Brenda reported, and Stephanie looked up miserably.

"I'll get Dad ready to go," she said softly, forcing herself to her feet. It seemed to take forever, and once she was standing she allowed a short stretching break, leaning forward to touch her toes, then the ceiling.

She stepped back into the room and made her way over to her dad's side. "Are you ready to leave?" she asked, forcing herself to sound brisk about the whole ordeal.

Steve sat up, rubbing his head even more. "Go where?" he asked curiously, looking at her.

She swallowed nervously and said, "The Helicarrier. We're going to go back to SHIELD."

He frowned once again and shivered. "Who's SHIELD?"

Her heart stopped pounding in her chest. For a moment, there were only echoes ringing through her head. Then her heart restarted, pounding double-time through her head.

"Never you mind," she finally managed to say, stomach aching once again.

He smiled hesitantly at her and stood up. Almost immediately he wobbled on his feet and almost fell over. Stephanie was by his side in an instant, supporting him.

She turned her comm back on and said, "Can you remember anything?" Her panic and fear slid through the carefully controlled cracks, coloring her voice with dread.

Steve frowned. "No," he said after a moment.

Sharp intakes of breath made her wince. "Not even your name?"

"Of course- Steven Rogers," he said instantly, making her sigh softly in relief.

"What about where you're from?" she prompted.

"Brooklyn, New York," he said.

"The date?"

"July 19, 1945."

Her shoulders sagged. "This might be hard to understand, but that's not today's date. It's December 23, 2014."

She glanced up just in time to catch a frown on his face. "How's that possible?!" he asked, sounding confused and upset.

Unable to contain herself, she turned and buried her face in his side, trying not to cry. He stiffened, reaffirming her fear- He didn't remember her.

"Oh, God, why?" she whispered, voice muffled by his shirt. All the s*** that was now heaped upon her head- why?

Steve gently patted her back and untangled her long arms from around him. "I'm sorry, miss, but I don't know you," he said uncertainly.

She looked up at him, miserable blue eyes matching his confused ones. "You do," she said, voice quavering. "You do, dang it. You just don't remember me."

He shook his head, his face the perfect mask of confusion. "No, I..." His voice trailed off, and he frowned even more, turning her to properly see her face.

Stephanie wiped her eyes and sniffed. "Uh. One second," she said, and twisted out of his gently restraining grip, stepping into the hallway once again.

There was silence over the communicator waves, unsurprisingly, as the Avengers tried to process what they had just heard.

"What'm I gonna do?" Stephanie whispered, voice tiny and hopeless.

No one answered her.

Finally someone sighed. "We're in position," Tasha said. "Steph, get Steve into the hallway. We've pinpointed your location and Dad and I're gonna blast a hole in the wall."

Stephanie took a shaky breath. "Ok," she said finally, and stepped back inside the tiny room.

Steve was sitting on his bed, looking around silently until he saw her in the doorway. "Hello again," she said cheerfully, hiding her fears. "Can you come out into the hallway for a few minutes?"

Steve stood up and followed her out into the hallway. "Why'd you want me out here?" he asked curiously.

"The wall's about to blow up," she said nonchalantly- and a second later, it did.

BOOM.

Stephanie grabbed Steve's shield off her belt and pressed it into his hands. "Take this- use it well," she ordered, and turned around as Tony and Tasha landed in the now open-air cell.

Tasha flipped her facemask up and grinned at her. "We have an exit from the compound," she said.

"No we don't," Claire said over the comm waves.

"Look to your left," the Iron Maiden said with an eye roll Claire couldn't see.

Silence for a moment, before Clint said, "Oh."

A roar split the air. "Bruce or Bren?" Stephanie asked lightly.

"Bruce," Tony said. In the background behind him the concrete wall exploded into dust as an enormous green ragemonster came out of nowhere and decimated the obstacle.

"I'm still on the airwaves," Brenda said merrily. "This is actually quite fun!"

Stephanie snorted slightly. "Says you."

The door at the end of the hall burst open, and the four in the hallway were immediately besieged with bullets. Stephanie snapped her shield up to protect herself, and glanced over at Steve. Relief surged through her- he had his shield up as well. Good. He remembered something.

"Claire and Clint are almost to the roof of your building," Brenda reported, as a loud whirring sound overhead caught their attention. Stephanie backed up to close to the edge of the hole and looked up. Sure enough, two small figures dropped out of the back of the quinjet and slid down a rope, vanishing before she could see them safely land.

She hurried back to Steve's side and grabbed a cherry bomb out of her belt. "Down!" she shouted, and before the enemy soldiers could react, she lobbed the small bomb and flattened herself to the ground.

The cherry bomb went off and Stephanie's ears rang for a few minutes. She pieced her hearing back together and staggered to her feet, leaning on the wall for support. She didn't have to worry about the soldiers- Tasha and Tony had dispatched them very quickly.

"Da-Steve, are you ok?" she asked, stumbling over to the super soldier. He was shoving himself to his feet, coughing a bit.

"I'm fine, Steph," he said, and Stephanie sucked in a breath, hope blazing in her eyes. Then he frowned. "Why did I call you that?" he murmured.

"It's my name," she said, biting her lip nervously. "Do you remember anything else...?"

Steve frowned, rubbing his forehead, as Tasha gestured frantically for Stephanie to get him to the hole in the wall as the door slammed open.

"Maybe later- time to go!" Stephanie shouted, grabbing Steve's arm and pulling him towards the opening in the building.

It was very dark outside, she noticed briefly. Almost immediately she attributed it to two figures fighting down in the courtyard- one with a hammer, the other with a long stick-like object. Lena and Lori, then- drawing fire while Tony lifted Steve into the quinjet overhead.

Stephanie hit her comm and yelled, "He's out! Repeat, target is safe! Retreat! Retreat!"

Tasha scooped her up and shot into the quinjet, releasing the supersoldier into the other quinjet. She landed right behind Stephanie as Lena and Lori entered. Claire and Nathan were already seated- Nathan and Natasha were seated in the cockpit, flying the plane. Brenda stood up quickly upon seeing Stephanie's tear-streaked face.

"Oh, hun," she whispered softly, reaching out both arms and wrapping them around Steph. "Shhh, shhh. It's gonna be ok..."

Stephanie shook her head silently, finally allowing her tears to spill over. "No, it won't be," she said firmly. "Luck's been on my side for far too long- I was way overdue for something bad to happen..."

Brenda tightened her grip. "Don't you dare think like that," she warned. "This has nothing to do with luck. This is some ba*****s thinking they can go and play God with our lives. You'll be ok, you'll get through this. He'll remember in time."

Stephanie laughed damply and wiped her streaming eyes. "I wish I had your faith," she whispered hopelessly. "I just don't know anymore..."

Brenda guided her over to where Lori was sitting, and the shorter girls made her sit down. Lori linked arms with Stephanie and gave her a warm smile. "If he doesn't remember I'll do my best to break any memory blocks he may have, ok?" she said soothingly.

Stephanie nodded and leaned her head back against the wall of the quinjet. "Thank you," she whispered to the two girls.


	17. Chapter 17

Hello people!

First order of business: Sorry for taking so long to update. I'm fighting to keep the story rolling because I'm up to a particularly difficult point to write.

Second order of business: In regards to the review about Darkness Wakening. I'm so so sorry, but for right now I think I'm going to put it on hiatus. I just can't seem to write anything at all. It frustrates me to no end that I can't update for you, but it just isn't happening at this point in time.

Third and final order of business: MY 16TH BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP. HE** YEAH. *throws confetti into the air*

Thanks for sticking around as I fight to keep my stories rolling. Enjoy!

(0)^_^(0)

The trip to the Helicarrier seemed to take forever. By the time they reached the deck Stephanie was less than five minutes away from completely losing her cool and breaking down.

The minute the quinjet door opened she was sprinting towards the second quinjet. Some medics had her father on a stretcher and were wheeling him off to the infirmary.

Brenda cut her off and grabbed Stephanie's shoulders. "No," she told the taller girl firmly. "You're worked up enough as it is. We do NOT need you breaking down."

The super soldier sighed and nodded wearily. "I guess you're right," she whispered heavily. "I just..."

Brenda closed her eyes briefly and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's gonna be ok," she said.

She nodded to Lori, who approached with a hand full of gently glowing green fire. One touch would give Stephanie less than ten minutes to get to bed and send her to sleep for at least six hours. Lori was counting on it lasting longer because of how worked up she was.

A gentle hand rested on Stephanie's back and she instantly yawned. "You need to go sleep," Brenda told her, sending Lori a sly smile. "It's been a long day for all of us. Worrying won't make anything better."

"It'll make me feel better," Stephanie muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

Brenda laughed softly and made sure she reached her quarters without passing out on a stairwell somewhere. By the time they reached her bedroom Stephanie was practically dead on her feet.

Brenda deposited her on her bed and headed off to the meeting room where the other Avengers and Young Avengers were gathering for a mission debriefing. She stepped into the room and sent Lori a thumbs-up, who grinned in return.

"Where's Ms. Rogers?" Fury asked from his place at the head of the table.

"Sleeping," Brenda said cooly, matching Fury's harsh gaze with her own. "She needs it."

"Then I expect you to catch her up-to-date on what we discuss in this meeting," he said sharply. Brenda nodded and practically fell into her seat next to Bruce. Stephanie might look delicate, but she was almost 140 pounds of solid muscle and bone.

A delicate hand tugged her pant leg, and Brenda checked under the table to see Siklali seated at her feet. One hand was pressed to her mouth, making the universal "shhhh" sign, with a mischievous glint in her playful green eyes. Brenda winked back and focused on Fury once more.

"I expect all of you to study the floor plan to the UN building in high detail," Fury was saying as he scanned the room. "I've sent the blueprints to your StarkTablets for further examination. You'll need to know each and every room inside and out."

Tasha kicked her feet up and put them on the table, ignoring Fury's disgruntled look. "What about the attendees?" she asked.

"We're drawing up full profiles of everyone who will be attending, from delegate to secretary to bodyguard. I expect everyone to at least give them the once-over to keep from having any nasty little surprises," Fury said.

A gentle tap on Brenda's foot made her casually glance under the table. Siklali was obviously bored with all the grown-up talk and wanted Brenda's attention NOW. She started making funny faces, trying to distract Brenda from the meeting.

Brenda stifled a laugh and shook her head, shoulders quivering with suppressed mirth. She quickly looked back up at Fury as he asked her a question.

"Sorry, Director, I'm afraid I didn't catch that," she said blandly, giving no indication that she was seconds away from bursting out in laughter.

"I said, is there someone you'd like to share with the whole room?" Fury asked, trying to hide his irritability.

Brenda shook her head innocently. "No, sir."

She looked around the room. Lori and Lena both knew about the small individual under the table, because they were both hiding smirks. Tasha had a perfectly blank face, as did Tony, and Thor was clueless as always. Bruce was giving her a disapproving look, while his eyes danced merrily. Loki looked bored, examining his staff with dark green eyes. Nathan was grinning, not even bothering to hide his laughter, and Claire was giggling silently. Natasha and Clint were both blank slates.

"Is this meeting dismissed?" Tony asked boredly. "Because I have to go fix my suit."

"Dismissed. When Captain Rogers is released from the infirmary, I'm sending you back to Avenger's Tower."

Brenda and Bruce stood up in unison, hiding Siklali as she slipped out from under the table to hide behind them. The two left, shielding Siklali from Fury's view as they kept in perfect step.

Once they were safely outside the conference room, Brenda allowed herself to burst out laughing. "How did you get in there?!" she asked the Hindu girl.

"I snuck in early and hid while they came in," Siklali explained, reaching up to grab onto Brenda.

Brenda picked her up easily and the small family of three made their way down the corridors. "How are you keeping yourself occupied?" Brenda asked curiously.

"Tasha gave me a big pane of glass and showed me how to play games," the girl said with a big smile. "It's fun! I like connecting the colored dots to each other!"

Bruce and Brenda shared an exasperated smile and headshake- trust Tasha to get the young girl into gaming two days into her new life.

Speaking of a young girl...

Brenda frowned silently as she remembered her conversation with Stephanie regarding adopting Siklali. She didn't understand why the super soldier had flinched so badly when she had said they were too young to raise kids.

Relating to that...

"Are you gonna send Stephanie in for a checkup?" Brenda asked Bruce.

Bruce looked confused for a moment, before his forehead smoothed out and he nodded. "Thank you for reminding me," he told her. "I'm gonna go get her in for an exam. I'll see you in the lab."

Brenda waved as he split off and took off for the lab, Siklali still on her hip. "Want to go play some more games?" she asked. The girl nodded eagerly, and Brenda laughed.

(0)^_^(0)

Claire clambered through the airvents, on her way to a secret location that only two people currently on the Helicarrier knew of.

"Hello?" she called warily, dragging a small bag of snacks and drinks behind her.

"Up here," a soft male voice whispered. It carried down the pipes, and Claire smiled brightly.

"Almost there!" she murmured, wiggling through a tight spot. A bright bit of light shone up ahead and she pushed the bag of snacks through in front of her.

She slid out of the vents and a strong pair of hands caught her, gently setting her on the floor. "Hello, sweetheart," Nathan said, smiling at her as she wrapped both arms around him and kissed him firmly.

They drew apart after a moment and Claire grinned up at him. "We have got them so thoroughly fooled right now," she said softly, reluctant to release her grip.

"You are a master of secret-keeping," Nathan murmured in her ear.

"You are too," she said right back, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to where she had stashed a picnic blanket earlier in the day.

They were hidden in a small section of venting where three or four sections of pipe converged, creating a small platform where two people could sit right next to each other and not be seen. Claire had discovered it soon after their return to the Avenger's universe and had slipped Nathan directions. It was their favorite place to hang out when off duty.

Nathan pulled out his StarkTablet and opened the floor plans to the UN building. "This is the main meeting floor," he said, pointing to a very large, open area. "There're air vents running all along the sides and front area. Air vents are spaced every ten feet or so."

Claire nodded, curling into his side. "Where will you be?" she asked softly.

"I'll probably be hanging out here. Natasha and I are pretending to be Stark's body guards, since this directly concerns his weapons in a way." Nathan placed his finger firmly down on top of the guest area. "We want him to be in the back, but he argued that people expect him to be dead front and center, so we'll more than likely be facing the back."

Claire shivered a bit. "I don't like you being so close to where everything could start," she whispered. "I wish you could stay in the vents with me..."

Nathan twisted and cradled her face with one hand. "Trust me, if it wouldn't bring up more questions than we can safely deal with, I would be pleading to stay near you," he said seriously.

She swallowed silently and covered his hand with her own. "I love you," she whispered softly.

He smiled back and gently kissed her. "I love you too," he told her.

(0)^_^(0)

Her head was aching terribly as she finally woke up.

One glance at the clock showed her she'd been asleep for four hours. She wished she could go back to sleep, but unfortunately it was impossible.

Stephanie sat up and stretched wearily, popping her back as it protested against the sudden movement. She listened briefly for any sign of movement in the hallway outside and breathed a sigh of relief when silence met her ears.

She changed out of her fighting uniform and into a pair of yoga pants and a loose shirt that floated around her form. A light sigh escaped her as she examined her outfit once more. She had to conceal a laugh- she'd need a whole new one after the UN conference. This one was burnt and shredded in places, with some of her careful stitching torn out.

She stood up and walked over to her desk to retrieve her low supply of thread and needles, passing a mirror on her closet door as she did so. She took a moment to pause and make sure her hair hadn't fallen out of its braid.

It hadn't, and she turned to make her way over to the desk once more, but something caught her attention and she froze.

Slowly- almost as if afraid- she turned sideways.

The blood drained out of her face, leaving her slightly pale. She gently rested a hand on her stomach, which was slightly protruding from the rest of her body.

"Oh no..." she whispered softly, threading her fingers together on top of her stomach. "No no nonononono."

Someone knocked on the door, and her eyes widened. "Who is it?" she asked, quickly stepping away from the mirror and shaking out her shirt.

"It's Brenda," a familiar voice called. "Bruce's got you an appointment with the doctors on ship to make sure you're alright."

Stephanie swallowed her fear. She'd have to find a confidant, and fast...

"Be there in a few," she called quickly. Footsteps receded from her door and she released a soft breath.

A few minutes later, she stepped out of her room, wearing a slightly oversized hoodie, zipped halfway up. Stephanie made her way to the medical wing slowly, trying to figure out how best to go about her... issue.

She stopped in front of the medical wing door and steeled herself, pushing the door open quickly. She was immediately assaulted with the overwhelming smell of bleach and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to dispel the smell.

"Hello, dear- Stephanie Rogers, correct?" a kind older woman asked her, pausing in front of her with a mop in one hand.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to see somebody for a checkup?" she asked hesitantly.

The woman smiled. "Dr. Hendricks will see you in a few minutes. She's doing surgery right now. Take a seat over there."

Stephanie sat down slowly and folded her hands on her lap. She shifted around uncomfortably for a few minutes before a middle aged woman with flyaway brown hair walked out of a room, wiping her hands on a paper towel.

"You must be Stephanie Rogers," she said- voice not unkind, but not friendly.

Stephanie nodded and stood up, sliding her hands into her pocket and holding them slightly away from her body. "Where do I need to go?" she asked.

"Follow me," Dr. Hendricks said, and led the way to a small room off to the side of the main room.

Stephanie sat on the table as Dr. Hendricks closed the door behind them and sat down at a computer. "Dr. Banner signed you up for a checkup after your last mission. Reason listed- tired during a mission. You have the serum, I presume?"

Stephanie nodded.

They went through the normal procedures and finally finished. Dr. Hendricks sat down on her stool and looked at Stephanie.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" she asked. "Doctor-patient confidentiality covers anything and everything you say."

She swallowed nervously. "Yes," she whispered.

"What is it?"

Stephanie closed her eyes silently, shifting on the table. "I'm... I'm-"


	18. Chapter 18

Heya guys! Just wanted to do a quick update. I'm off to my GPs tomorrow for their wedding anniversary celebration, and I won't be back until... Tuesday night. So yeah.

In other news, I have one chapter left before I've caught up with my writing. Hopefully this will give me the chance to write more and get ahead again. :P

I'll talk to you soon, I hope!

(0)^_^(0)

A full day passed. The Young Avengers trained and worked to memorize the floor plans for the UN building, leaving nothing to chance.

A bit after lunch the next day, Fury gathered all the Avengers- besides Captain America- in the conference room.

"I'm sending you back to Avenger's Tower," he announced without preamble.

Eyebrows rose across the room. Glances were exchanged, frowns caught and passed around.

"Why?" Natasha asked, voice and face emotionless.

"You need a break. You've done nothing but go all out trying to recover everyone on your team," Fury said.

"When do we leave?" Stephanie asked, voice hopeless and soft. Several concerned looks met her eyes as she slowly looked up from her tablet.

"You'll be leaving in an hour," Director Fury said, before he pressed his hand to his communicator and listened intently to someone on the other end.

Stephanie stared at her hands silently as he spoke quietly to someone on the other end. She was just about done with all of the looks people were sending her. They thought they were being sneaky about it, but she caught almost every one.

"Send them up," she heard Fury say, and flipped silently through the file she'd already read a million times. She was beyond ready to go home- if she was honest with herself, she needed it, just to get her thoughts off Dad...

Fury was talking again, and she casually flipped her comm channel to sync with her iPod in her pocket. The music was going and she listened, giving no indication that she wasn't listening.

The door opened behind her, and she half twisted, not really caring who was there, but out of force of habit. Her eyes met a pair of matching blue ones-

- and she launched out of her seat, covering the distance between her and Steve in a moment. Tears were streaming down Stephanie's face as she collided with her father, hugging him tightly.

Steve swallowed and hugged her back fiercely. "Hello again," he whispered softly in her ear, as her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. "I missed you."

Stephanie couldn't speak, just nodded into his shoulder. "Missed you too," she managed to get out, before she was crying again.

Steve shifted out of the way so the other Avengers could leave them to talk, though Stephanie just wanted to hug him for the moment. She was content to know he was alive, and there- and he was, too.

"You remembered," she sobbed quietly, tightening her grip on him as he did the same.

"I did," he affirmed.

"How?"

He was silent for a moment, smoothing her back in thought, before shrugging. "I woke up and I remembered everything," he said quietly.

She looked up at him, eyes confused. "How's that possible? You didn't even remember SHIELD when we were getting you out of that he**hole you were stuck in," she said.

He shrugged and shook his head. "The doctors said that it could have been some... serum, I guess, that was formulated just to wipe my memory for long enough to keep me compliant for whatever they were doing."

Stephanie nodded and started crying all over again. "I missed you so much," she whimpered softly.

Steve wiped her tears away with a thumb and draped an arm over her shoulder. "I missed you too," he said affectionately. "What do you say we go destroy some punching bags?"

She laughed and agreed.

(0)^_^(0)

They had to take 2 quinjets back to Stark Tower- or Avenger's Tower, as it was now formally known as.

Stephanie was practically glued to Steve's side, always a step behind and to the side of him wherever he went. Nathan had made a brief joke about her melding with his shadow, before he caught Lori's eye and abruptly shut up.

Siklali stared out the back window silently, eyes wide and glowing as New York City entered her line of sight. "Oh, wow," she whispered.

Brenda made her way over and knelt beside the small Hindi girl. "Home sweet home," she said with a sigh.

"Where do you live?" Siklali asked, wide dark brown eyes scanning the entire city skyline in a flash.

Brenda frowned as she looked out the window, silently comparing the current view to that of the one on the balcony. "We're going towards it," she finally said. "You won't be able to see it."

Siklali's shoulders sagged slightly. "But I want to see my new home," she complained.

Brenda sighed and scooped her up. "I'll see what I can do," she said, making her way up to the front of the cabin and lifting Siklali as much as she could.

Siklali gasped. "The big building with the big A on the side?!" she guessed excitedly.

Brenda grinned and nodded. "That's the place," she said fondly, memories flooding back to her of a time long ago, when she had lived in the Tower and thought it her permanent home.

Meanwhile, Lori and Loki were seated close to the back of the quinjet, discussing magic with a conspiratorial air. Anytime someone so much as glanced at them, the two would quiet down until the person's gaze fell elsewhere.

"Coming in for a landing," Natasha called into the back of the plane as she made her final landing checks. Nathan was in the copilot seat, helping her out as Clint and Claire piloted the second quinjet behind them.

The quinjets landed smoothly on the landing pads. The back door dropped open and the Avengers flooded onto the windy balcony.

"Tony!"

They all turned to watch the touching reunion unfolding on the deck. Pepper ran towards Tony as he met her halfway across the deck. He caught her and spun her around a time or two, hugging her fiercely as he whispered reassurances into her ear.

Jane made her way over to Thor at a more reserved pace and gently pressed a light kiss to his cheek. He turned a deep red, grinning foolishly as Lena giggled beside him.

Stephanie sighed happily and turned her face up to the sky. "This is lovely weather," she said softly, as a few gentle sun rays bathed her face and hair in light.

Steve grinned and looked up as well. "That it is," he agreed quietly. "Though we should go inside-"

A blast of wind whipped through the large group. "Come in!" Jane called above the howling gale. "We made hot chocolate!"

With the promise of treats, the Avengers made their way into the lounge and fell upon a small mountain of cookies and pitchers of hot chocolate. They regaled Jane, Pepper, and Jarvis with tales of their rescues as they ate.

"And who's this charmer?" Jane finally asked during a lull in the conversation.

Siklali, who had been hidden between Bruce and Brenda for the majority of their snack, 'eep'ed and hid in Brenda's side.

"This is Siklali. She and Natasha know each other," Brenda said, gesturing to the red-haired master assassin. "She helped me find Father in exchange for a new life."

"Seems like she got the better end of the bargain," Tony observed casually, cradling a crystal tumbler of what Brenda was sure was NOT hot chocolate in his hands.

"But I got Father back," she said quietly. "I'd say we're about even."

The group talked quietly among themselves for a short amount of time before Brenda caught Siklali nodding off, curled up in one of the massive comfy chairs that Tony kept in the main lounge.

"Bedtime," she proclaimed, swooping over and picking up Siklali easily. The young girl nestled into her shoulder, mumbling something Brenda couldn't catch.

"Where will she be staying?" Jane asked, sounding concerned.

"She's been bunking down in my room in a bundle of blankets. She isn't used to beds yet," Brenda said quietly, pressing one hand to Siklali's ear so she wouldn't be disturbed.

Pepper nodded wisely. "Jarvis? Have one of the robots deliver some more blankets to Brenda's room."

"Right away, Ms. Potts," the AI's smooth voice said. "And... Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, Jarvis?" Tony asked the ceiling.

"Welcome home," Jarvis said hesitantly.

A bit of surprise flickered across Tony's face. "Thank you, Jarvis," he said, sounding slightly confused.

Brenda caught a small smile on Tasha's face as she took a sip of... that better not be alcohol...

She shook it off when Tasha grabbed a small container of apple juice and refilled her glass. "Night, all," she called to the general lounge, waving to everyone.

"Night!" "See you tomorrow!" "Sleep well!"


	19. Chapter 19

It is official.

Worst.

Writer.

EVER.

Honestly though, I am so so so SO sorry for leaving you guys high and dry! I didn't mean to, but then I realized that I needed to finish writing this chapter before I could publish it. SO sorry.

In other news, I've caught up to my prewritten stuff, meaning that from here on out updates may become sporadic. I'll try my hardest to have stuff written for Midwinter's Eve, but it could be a week or two between chapters. Especially this summer- I have a jam packed schedule.

Enough with the yapping. Onto the story!

One last thing! I do love to torture you guys, don't I? *evil smile*

(0)^_^(0)

Brenda woke up seconds from screaming.

She gasped and frantically clutched at the sheets, throwing them off as she fought to breath. Her head pounded ferociously and she winced, panting breathlessly.

"Miss Banner, are you alright?" Jarvis asked in concern.

Brenda took a few moments to remind herself that Mini-Hulk was, in fact, still in her mind and that she was, in fact, safe in Avengers' Tower.

"Miss Banner?"

"I'm fine, Jarvis," she said after a moment. "Nightmare, is all..."

"If you're sure then," he said uncertainly.

"Very sure." Brenda flopped back on her back, staring at the dull white ceiling while she slowed her breathing back to an acceptable rate. "Is anyone else awake?"

"Dr. Banner is in his lab. He appears to be the only one still awake," Jarvis said.

"Thanks," Brenda said briefly and stood up, reaching for her light jacket and quickly pulling it on. She had to step over Siklali to reach the door, but she didn't worry about waking the girl- she could sleep through a hurricane.

She followed the directions that Jarvis provided, eventually reaching the elevator. It took her three stories up to where the R&D labs were located. The doors opened and Brenda, arms tightly crossed across her chest, stepped out to find her father.

"Father?" she called softly.

She could hear a light *tink* as someone set down a small metallic object onto a table. "Brenda?" she heard him call.

Brenda followed his voice to a workstation. The lights were dimmed, giving the area an almost ghostly aura. Bruce was hunched over some small screen, tweaking things here and there as he frowned at the display.

"Hi, Father," she said casually, dragging a rolling chair over to sit down next to him. "What are you up to this late at night?"

"Genetics," Bruce said, waving his hand vaguely. "Why are you up?"

Just thinking about her nightmare gave Brenda shivers. She couldn't even remember what, exactly, the nightmare had been anymore. "Nightmare," she said briefly.

Bruce glanced at her for a split second, before spinning a DNA helicase on the screen. "What are you doing, more specifically?" she asked, leaning over to see what he was doing.

"I told you," he said, though his tone wasn't angry. "Genetics."

Brenda made an impatient noise. "Genetics about...?" she asked.

"The Hulk," he said after a moment, shoulders sagging. "I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to take the Hulk out of me."

Her shoulders stiffened, and her posture drastically improved. "T-Trying to take the Hulk out of yourself?" she asked carefully.

"Yes," he said. "I just wanted to know..."

Brenda's heart rate went up. "Delete it," she said, voice panicked. "Please, I'm begging you- delete it."

"Brenda, what's-" Bruce asked, turning to fully face her. He was frowning in confusion, eyebrows furrowed, trying to decipher her reaction.

"I've lived without a Hulk for two years," she said, trying desperately to keep Mini-Hulk from making an appearance. "It was the worst two years of my life. It was like I was... empty. Dry. Cleaned out. I couldn't feel anger or fear. It was terrible."

"You couldn't feel-"

"Any anger or fear. I just felt empty," she whispered, closing her eyes as she tried not to cry over the memories. "You don't want to take the Hulk away. They balance us. We're the calm and happy side, they're the excited and angry side. Without one side, we couldn't live."

Bruce stared at her closely. "If you're sure..." he trailed off.

"Yes. Yes, I am 100%, entirely sure that you shouldn't do this to yourself," Brenda whispered.

He smiled slightly and hit the small red 'X' on the top of the screen. She sagged in relief as the tab vanished. "Thank you," she whispered, and reached out both arms to hug him tightly. He accepted the hug, and she just sat there and cried into his shoulder for a minutes. He awkwardly patted her back as they sat there.

"Should we go get some tea?" he asked after a few minutes. Brenda drew back with a soft laugh, awkwardly eyeing the wet patch on his shoulder as she nodded.

"Tea sounds good. Even though I don't think I deserve it, after that outburst."

"Everybody deserves tea," Bruce said as he stood up and put an arm around Brenda's shoulders, leading her to the elevator.

(0)^_^(0)

Tasha bounced downstairs at the crack of dawn, a grin a mile wide on her face. "It's Christmas Eve tonight!" she crowed happily as she ran into the lounge, sprinted forward at a fast pace, and impacted into the couch.

Stephanie sighed from her place opposite Tasha's faceplant, face buried in a cup of tea. "Honestly, Tasha," she said in exasperation.

Tasha managed to somehow unbury her face from the cushions and say, "Hey, shut up, Queen of Sock Sliding."

Stephanie shook her head and laughed.

Tasha shoved herself into a sitting position and looked around the lounge. Most of the others were up as well, scattered around the lounge, drinking cups of coffee, tea, or cocoa, and munching on various baked goods.

"I thought you didn't like tea," Lori said as she passed Stephanie.

She shrugged in response. "My stomach isn't feeling well." She took another sip and smiled happily.

"Leave her alone," Brenda admonished, shaking her head at Tasha.

The adults watched the goings-on with a quiet entertainment. They were drinking a variety of drinks, mostly coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Tony- of course- was drinking alcohol.

Nathan wandered in, yawning and rubbing his eyes. His short hair stuck up in every direction, and he grabbed for a cup of coffee, chugging half of it in one sip.

"It's Christmas!" Tasha repeated happily. "And we forgot to get presents!"

Someone snorted- Tony. "We were a bit busy- y'know, being kidnapped and all that jazz?"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Tasha snapped back. "It's not like everyone has to give everyone else a gift. Ever done one of those things where you draw names out of a hat and give that person a gift?"

"Nope. Never really celebrated Christmas," Tony said with a shrug.

The Young Avengers all came to a screaming halt and spun to stare at him. "You're kidding," Claire said flatly.

"Nope. Dad wasn't into much of the whole 'Christian holiday' thing." Tony shrugged and took a swig of something.

Stephanie pulled her knees up to her chest and gasped slightly. Luckily, she was able to pass it off as shock- in reality, her stomach had just throbbed badly, pain shooting through her. She slid one hand between her knees and her stomach, and the pain slowly vanished.

"So you never got presents?" Nathan asked incredulously. Claire glared at him briefly. He ignored her.

"I never celebrated Christmas," Natasha said quietly, with a slight shrug as she sipped her coffee.

"My dear father drank our money away," Clint said bitingly, putting his coffee mug down on the counter with a little more force than was strictly necessary.

"Mom tried. I didn't get much for Christmas every year, but we celebrated it," Steve said quietly.

"What is this 'Christmas' you speak of?" Thor asked in confusion.

"I usually got something small from Mother," Bruce said softly. "No big dinner or anything."

Shellshocked, the Young Avengers stared around at their older counterparts. "That's terrible," Brenda said flatly. "So you never really celebrated Christmas?"

One by one, the Avengers shook their heads.

"O...kay..." Brenda said slowly. "So small celebration this year and we work our way up?"

"If we're still here," Stephanie murmured silently, closing her eyes as her lips moved soundlessly.

"Sounds good."

"We should get gag gifts for each other!" Claire exclaimed suddenly.

"What's a gag gift?" Steve asked cluelessly.

Stephanie opened her mouth to explain, but Tasha jumped in quickly. "It's a gift that's just funny, no real reason behind it. For example, giving Stephanie baby stuff."

Stephanie froze silently, before forcing a laugh that- thankfully- sounded real. She was joined by most of the other Young Avengers and a few of the originals. "Why do you say that?" she asked, faking a grin.

"Because Miss Morals would never allow anything like that to happen!" Tasha said as if it was a fact of life. Stephanie just smiled and shook her head. She just had to keep up her 'perfect' facade for a little while longer... and figure something out.

"Joking aside, we really should draw names or something," Tasha said, once they'd calmed down. "Names from a hat?"

"You're forgetting that I have Jarvis," Tony said smugly. "Jarvis? Randomize names and give each one of us a name."

"Right away, sir," Jarvis said crisply. Moments later, Stephanie's phone beeped and she turned it on, to discover her gift recipient was Clint. She schooled her face blank and tried to hide her worry- she had no idea what to get him.

She glanced around to gauge reactions. There were a few grins on faces, a few furrowed brows, several confused glances, and more than a few poker faces- hers included.

"Right. Well, best get to work then!" Nathan said, almost forcedly cheery. He stowed his phone in his pocket and made his way to the elevator, accompanied by a few other people.

Stephanie caught up to Claire and casually linked arms with her. Claire winked at her, immediately guessing her reason for hanging back, and whispered, "Twilight DVDs."

She gave a mock shudder and shook her head. "I don't want him to despise me!" she whispered back. "Something less... disgusting."

Claire laughed at that. "Try reading glasses. He's far sighted."

Stephanie's eyes widened in shock. "Honestly?!" she hissed, whirling to stare at Claire.

The slightly younger girl nodded solemnly, mischief glittering in her eyes. "Go for it," she said with a giggle, and slipped loose of Stephanie's lightly restraining grip, waving as she made her way to the elevator.


	20. Important AN

Honest to goodness I feel like the worst person in the world right now. I am so, so, so very sorry to have abandoned you.

There's several reasons for this, and I'll attempt to go through them one by one.

1) I have been extremely busy with end of year exams and all that stuff. I was on vacation for two weeks which didn't help because I got 0 work done.

2) I'm having problems with inspiration for this story. I'm working through it, but the character I want to bring in is hard to write for me.

And finally and most importantly, 3) I'm struggling with anorexia. I'm really fighting guys, truly I am, but it's sapping my energy fighting the little demonic voice in my head. I am using your reviews as strength, so thank you.

Again, I'm so so sorry and I will attempt to update soon. I didn't want to completely abandon you. I hope you understand and I'll do my best. This will be deleted when I finally do update.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey again, guys! I'm back!

1) Thank you for your concern. I'm better now, or I hope I am. I can't thank you enough for your love and support. It really, truly, honest to goodness helped.

2) I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo! My project is this story and Darkness Wakening, which NEEDS TO BE UPDATED DANGIT. Really sorry about that guys.

3) This chapter has an almost-but-not-quite reveal of somebody's 'issue'. Enjoy!

(0)^_^(0)

Lori hurried down the sidewalk, clutching her bag of goodies in one hand and a Starbucks iced coffee in the other. Her breath came in gasps of air as she struggled to keep air moving through her lungs.

"Can't catch me!" she heard someone shriek from behind her. Lori grinned and ran faster, sprinting away from Nathan and Lena, both of whom had been deemed 'it'.

Lori ignored the disapproving looks adults were giving her as she glanced to her left. Stephanie was gaining- she couldn't let her best friend pass her. As soon as Stephanie was running next to her, Lori tripped her and sped on.

Stephanie tucked, rolled, and came to her feet in one smooth movement, her own bag of stuff clinking as she hugged it to her chest to keep it from getting broken. She glanced up to see Claire on the second floor of the mall, walking at a fast pace.

Claire glanced over her shoulder and saw Brenda jogging to catch up with her. "See them?" she asked breathlessly as the two walked side by side.

"Yep. Lena's on the first, Nathan's second," Claire murmured.

"Catch ya later!" Brenda said quickly, and began jogging again.

She could hear laughter behind her, and glanced over her shoulder briefly. Claire was now it, as evidenced by Nathan's hand on her shoulder, and the girl caught sight of Brenda through the crowd and grinned devilishly. Brenda poured on the speed.

Down below Brenda was Lena, running as fast as she could. She was no match for the super soldier, however, and Lori was good with illusions. There was one person she could possibly catch, and that person was sitting on a bench with a magazine up to cover her face. Lena stopped in front of her. "Tag," she said simply. Tasha groaned and stood up, throwing her magazine back onto the bench.

Above them, Nathan smiled at Claire. Brenda had left them in the dust, and they felt comfortable enough to act like the couple they were in the crowd. "Tasha's it," he said with a grin.

"The hiding tactic didn't work, I see," she said right back. "She woulda summoned her suit in a heartbeat though."

"Good thing she didn't. We shouldn't blow our cover." Claire nibbled on her lip softly. Nathan kissed her to make her stop.

"Oh, get a room!" someone called to them. They smiled together as they drew apart.

"One day," Claire vowed softly. Nathan grinned at her.

"C'mon. Let's go. The 'rents are waiting," he said warmly.

The younger set found the Avengers right where they had promised to meet- the dead center of the mall. The seven were seated around a table. Tony and Loki had Starbucks, while Natasha sipped on a cup of tea. Clint was eating a pretzel and Steve was eating a hot dog. Thor and Bruce weren't snacking on anything.

The younger Avengers all arrived precisely at the same moment. Stephanie slid into the seat next to Steve as Lori leaned on Loki's head. Unfazed, he continued to sip his frozen coffee as she copied his movements exactly. Tasha sat down next to Tony and stole a sip of his drink. Claire grabbed half of Clint's pretzel and scarfed it as he stared at her incredulously. Nathan dragged a chair over to sit next to Natasha as Lena and Brenda followed his lead.

"Got everything?" Tony asked lazily, leaning back in his chair.

Stephanie scanned through her bag again and grinned. "Yep."

The others echoed her after a minute, keeping the contents of their bags secret from the others.

"The car's out front. Let's go," Tony said, accepting a piece of paper from a girl who asked him to sign it and scribbling his name. Tasha gave the young girl a wink and peace sign as he handed it back and stood.

They made their way out to the parking lot, where the bike and three cars they'd brought were waiting. Thor and Lena got into the truck with Clint and Claire, while Loki and Lori shared a ride with Natasha and Nathan. Bruce, Brenda, Tony, and Tasha were in the convertible, as usual, and Steve and Stephanie had Steve's old army bike. They peeled out of the lot quickly and headed straight back to Avengers Tower, where Pepper, Jane, and Siklali were waiting.

The first thing that signaled something was up was the rusty old pickup parked next to Jane's 'Science-mobile', as someone- no one remembered who- had dubbed it.

"Hey, you dragged Tasha's old car here!" Claire joked, making a wide circle around the car. Tasha punched her shoulder as she passed.

"Jarvis, who's here?" Tony asked as he approached the elevator.

"Miss Foster didn't say. There are two people, a young woman and an older man," Jarvis said crisply.

"No-"

"-freaking-"

"-way," Claire, Tasha, and Lori chorused in almost perfect unison.

"Why, what's up?" Tony asked sharply.

Stephanie and Nathan just facepalmed.

The elevator doors opened and they could see three people seated at the coffee table. They turned as Jarvis announced their arrival and showed their faces: Pepper, Jane, and-

"Doctor Selvig!" Thor boomed, striding forward to gently pat the scientist on his back. Of course, 'gently' for Thor was still almost enough to knock the poor man over. Selvig smiled broadly at Thor and shook his hand cheerfully.

"Thor! It's great to see you again!" Selvig said, before gesturing to Lena, who was standing right beside Thor. The two were the same height, which was comical- seeing as Selvig was at least three times Lena's age. "And this must be-"

"Lena Odinson, Dr, Selvig. We met briefly after the battle," Lena said cordially, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you officially."

"Where's Siklali?" Brenda asked worriedly, looking around.

"Miss Lewis is currently with her, Miss Banner," Jarvis said. "They're on their way up to this floor. I took the liberty of informing them that you had arrived."

Brenda's concern melted into a smile. "Thank you, Jarvis," she said warmly.

The elevator doors dinged and opened, revealing two people- Siklali and another familiar face. Siklali's face lit up and she ran to Brenda, wrapping both arms around her waist. Brenda stooped and hugged the child back, whispering softly to her. Siklali nodded to whatever she asked, and Brenda scooped her up.

Darcy Lewis watched the younger girls for a moment before noticing everyone else in the lounge. One eyebrow rose as she looked at everybody, obviously playing match-the-faces.

"Did somebody stick you guys into a cloning machine or something?" she asked finally. "Because I swear, this is the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

Lori laughed cheerily and waved from her seat at the bar. Tasha was seated beside her on the bar itself, as Claire sipped on some drink while she leaned against the stone slab. Their elder counterparts were scattered throughout the lounge, talking to others, eating, or drinking.

"Those three are trouble," Stephanie warned, laughter filling her voice as she walked over to Darcy and held out a hand. "Stephanie Rogers. It's nice to meet you...?"

"Darcy Lewis. You're Captain America's daughter?" Darcy asked, shaking her hand briskly.

"You could say that," Stephanie said with a shrug. "Those three are Lori, Tasha and Claire. They're Loki's, Tony's, and Clint's doppelgängers, respectively." She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "They're trouble."

"I heard that," Lori drawled, taking the glass that Nathan handed her and sipping on it.

"You were meant to," Stephanie said easily, winking at Darcy and walking over to where Brenda and Siklali sat, coloring away.

Darcy walked over to where the four Young Avengers were standing or sitting and chatting. "So who else is here?" she asked.

"Well, there's Stephanie, who's Roger's clone. Then you have Brenda, who's Banner's doppelganger. Lena's the last one, she's Thor's daughter."

"So Lena is different?" Darcy asked curiously.

"Nope. Just a term for it."

"And you, handsome?" she asked Nathan, winking at him.

Claire tensed silently, trying not to get angry.

"Natasha Romanoff's doppelganger. And I'm taken, I'm afraid, by this charming young lady," he said warmly, gesturing to Claire.

Tasha did a spit take. "You're dating again?!" she practically shrieked. The soft conversations dimmed a little at her exclamation.

Darcy pouted a little bit, before her ears perked up and she said, "Ooooh, I sense a story. Tell!"

Neither Claire nor Nathan seemed keen to say anything, so Tasha spilled instead. "They were going out for years before they broke up. It was really spectacular, too- huge blazing fight in the middle of the cafeteria. They really went at it."

"Why did you decide to get back together?!" Lori asked, shocked.

"Because we decided to be civil to each other, at least," Claire said hesitantly. "I mean, after Stephanie yelled at us, I guess both of us decided that we could tolerate the other."

"That's good," a familiar voice said. They all jumped- Tony, Bruce, and Natasha had all come over to the bar as well. "Now maybe you'll behave better." Natasha shot Nathan a glare; he put his hands up in mock surrender. Claire just giggled.

Stephanie stood up, arms full of bagged items. "I'm heading down to my room to drop this stuff off," she told the room at large. "Anyone coming as well?"

"Me!" a chorus of voices rang out, and the various Young Avengers scattered to grab their purchases. The seven crammed into the elevator and descended, dropping teens off along the way.

Stephanie had almost made it to her room when a throbbing sensation cut through her stomach again. She tensed silently, hoping no one had noticed. No one had, or so she hoped, as she stepped into the area that she shared with Claire and Nathan.

They split up, with a quick warning from Stephanie to 'not get up to anything', and deposited their purchases. She tossed her bag onto her bed and closed the door quickly. "Jarvis, deactivate all bugs," she ordered quickly, sitting down and pressing one hand to her abdomen.

"Consider it done," Jarvis said, voice almost concerned. "Are you ok?"

She took a deep breath. "I will be," she said firmly, and dismissed him fully from her room with a wave of the hand. Once Stephanie was sure he'd left, she put both hands on her stomach and sighed.

"It's ok, sweetie," she breathed softly. "Mama's here."


	22. Chapter 22

OK! I am BACK... for a short while. I have like one chapter prewritten after this. Darnit.

Enjoy the fluff and I'll post the other chapter sometime next week, probably. Should be extra long as well.

(0)^_^(0)

Everyone was up late that night, wrapping gifts. They all were asleep by 2, and were up early by 5.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Tasha practically shrieked as she flew into the lounge, still in sleep pants and a tank top. She skidded to an abrupt stop as she saw she was the last one awake. Everyone else looked like they'd been up for half an hour, at the least- most fully dressed in comfortable clothes.

"We waited to open presents," Brenda said with a grin at the disappointment on Tasha's face. "C'mon. There's coffee and hot chocolate." She slung an arm around Tony's mini-me and led her over to the bar, where she shoved a cup of cocoa into her hands. "Drink up, then we can get started."

Tasha chugged most of the cup in one gulp, wincing and making a face as it burnt her tongue. "Careful," Bruce admonished.

"Yessir," Tasha said automatically, bouncing over to the pile of presents. The Young Avengers had decided that a Christmas tree was too much too fast, and had instead opted for a more subtle approach.

The decorations were elegant and subdued, yet spectacular. Wreaths of holly adorned the walls, while ivy garlands were draped over shelves, the ends falling off the edge. Candles were scattered everywhere, in gold, a deep red, and dark green. Someone had lit them all, and it smelled like cinnamon and gingerbread. Tasha sat down in front of the presents and began finding tags, sorting them by recipient. She was soon joined by Clint, Lena, and Steve, all of whom helped her sort.

"I think that's everyone," Clint said eventually, looking at the small piles of presents everywhere. "That is a LOT of presents."

"Geez," Darcy commented, wandering over with a drink in her hand. "You can say that again."

"That is a LOT of presents," Clint repeated, mischief glinting in his eyes.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Smarta**," she muttered.

"Takes one to know one," he retorted.

"Oh, pretty boy can pass insults?" she snapped back.

"Ladies, ladies, knock it off," Tony called lazily. "You're both very good at sarcasm." Darcy rolled her eyes and bounced over to the sofa to sit beside Claire.

"Who's gonna start?" Jane asked warmly, sitting down with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Well," Stephanie said slowly, "We could all just go at it at once…"

Literally seconds later, the place was full of chattering and the sound of paper ripping. Cries of "Thank you!" "This is awesome!" and "Yes!" filled the air, with the less common calls of "You a**hole!" and "You gave me WHAT NOW?!" filling the air ever-so-often. Someone shoved a camera into poor Selvig's hands, therefore designating him the photographer- until Pepper kindly relieved him of that duty, allowing him to open his own presents.

Two different classes of present-openers immediately became apparent almost immediately. The first had the tendency to just rip through their presents, opening them all as fast as they could to see what was inside. A few notable examples were Nathan, Tasha, Tony, Claire, Clint, Lena, and Thor. The second class took their own sweet time, shaking boxes gently, taking wild guesses as to what was inside. These included Natasha, Stephanie, Steve, Brenda, Bruce, Lori, and Loki. The first class was done with opening presents in fifteen minutes. The second were still going after an hour.

"You guys take FOREVER," Nathan whined, as Natasha leisurely used a knife to cut the tape holding the wrapping paper on a box. She barely glanced at him with a warning look in her eyes and he subsided silently. Tasha smirked, having caught the exchange as she examined her brand new 3DS.

After much whining, the second group finally finished unwrapping their presents, just as Jarvis announced that the baked French toast was done.

"You made baked French toast?!" Nathan asked, looking thrilled.

"It's a Christmas classic at most of our households, silly," Claire told him, gently ruffling his hair. She was wearing a shirt that read "I'm his and he's mine" in a fancy, curlicue script. Nathan had the matching shirt on, except his read "I'm hers and she's mine" in a more 'manly' font. Those gifts had gotten raised eyebrows from the elders and squeals from the girls.

The Avengers, both young and old, lined up to get their breakfast. Jane, Pepper, and Darcy served, though Stephanie and Brenda helped with plates and silverware.

Before long the entire lounge was quiet. Finished with food, the entire population of Avenger's Tower lounged around lazily, messing around with their new toys.

"Now what?" someone asked, breaking the quiet.

"Usually we went ice skating or had a snowball fight," Brenda said with a shrug from her position draped over the couch. "Except there's no good place to do that…"

"Except Central Park," Bruce corrected.

Siklali had been silent for most of the morning, opening her presents quietly and thanking everyone individually. The poor girl had seemed overwhelmed at the amount of gifts she had received. Now, however, she spoke up. "What's 'ice skating'?" she asked innocently.

"It's when a pond freezes over and it gets icy," Darcy explained, surprising everyone. "People put shoes on their feet that have thin pieces of metal and slide across the ice. It's really hard, but very fun."

Jane nudged her with a questioning look. She answered with a light shrug, "Tons of younger cousins."

"Should we go?" Claire asked. "Skating, I mean. There's sure to be snow, too."

Glances were exchanged all around the lounge. "I don't see why not…" Steve said slowly, and the lounge was almost immediately deserted.

"Race you!" Stephanie shrieked, already halfway down the first flight of stairs. Lori and Lena were right behind her as she sprinted downwards, all three laughing gleefully. The others piled up at the elevator doors and pushed inside as soon as they opened, leaving the adults alone in the lounge, looking at each other in bemusement.

"Ok…?" Tony said slowly. "Should we get ready to go as well?"

The adults made their ways to their rooms at a much more sedate pace.


End file.
